Agence France-Presse
Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid manager, called Cristiano Ronaldo "a phenomenon" after the Portuguese forward's hat-trick helped his side put beat Deportivo la Coruna 8-2 on Saturday night.
Ronaldo opened the scoring with a fantastic header for the visitors from Alvaro Arbeloa’s cross, but the Portuguese was upstaged by James Rodriguez and the Colombian doubled the visitors’ advantage with a sumptuous left-footed effort that curled into the top corner.
A goalkeeping howler from German Lux then allowed Ronaldo to fire into an empty net to make it 3-0 before the break, but Depor did manage to pull one back when Haris Medunjanin converted from the penalty spot after Sergio Ramos was adjudged to have handled.
However, Gareth Bale struck twice in the final 25 minutes before Ronaldo rounded off his hat-trick to ensure Real bounced back in style after suffering consecutive defeats to Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid in their past two Primera Liga outings.
Toche headed home a late consolation for the hosts, but Javier Hernandez rounded off a fine day for Real when he volleyed home his first two goals for the club since joining on loan from Manchester United as Madrid equalled their biggest ever away win in La Liga.
“The game was defined by the skill and quality we have up front and how clinical we were with the chances we had,” said Ancelotti.
“We showed the quality we have. We have a phenomenon in Ronaldo and we have other players with great quality. They combined very well together and that was the best thing we can take from the game.”
The European champions had dismissed some of the early season pessimism at the Santiago Bernabeu with a 5-1 hammering of Basel in the Uefa Champions League in midweek, but badly needed a win to keep in touch with leaders Barcelona who have made a 100 per cent start to life under new boss Luis Enrique.
And Ancelotti is still looking for an improvement in other areas of the pitch.
“We have to improve. Today we showed the quality everyone knows we have which is the capability to score in many different ways.
“We need to continue improving the balance and our consistency. After two defeats we have scored 13 goals and that is a good sign that we have responded well.”
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