With Cristiano Ronaldo rested Real Madrid ‘reserves’ thrash Granada to keep pace with Barcelona

Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata celebrates scoring his second goal against Granada on Saturday May 6, 2017. Daniel Tejedor / AP Photo

MADRID // Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez scored twice as a much-changed Real Madrid moved to within three victories of winning the Primera Liga with a 4-0 demolition of Tony Adams’s already-relegated Granada.

Earlier, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all on target to take their combined tally for the season to 102 as Barcelona kept pace at the top with a 4-1 win over Villarreal.

Barca remain top thanks to their superior head-to-head record with the two locked on 84 points, but Real have three games remaining to the Catalans’ two.

Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane continued his rotation policy of recent weeks with nine changes from the side that beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of their Uefa Champions League semi-final on Tuesday as hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the squad entirely.

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However, it mattered little as Madrid maintained their perfect La Liga record in nine games without Ronaldo this season.

“For a coach it is the best possible news,” Zidane said.

“It means that everyone is involved, in good physical condition; every time they get a chance to play they do well. I can only be satisfied with that.”

Barely two minutes had gone when Lucas Vazquez got in behind the Granada defence and squared for Rodriguez to tap home the opener.

The Colombian then powered home a header from Fabio Coentrao’s cross just nine minutes later.

Adams made a substitution after just 16 minutes as Uche Agbo replaced Aly Malle, but it could not prevent the one-way traffic.

“Real Madrid are at another level to us, they’ve got some fantastic players but we gave it to them too easily in the first half,” Adams said.

Morata blasted home Danilo’s low cross then bullied Martin Hongla out of the way to fire home his 20th goal of the season.

Vazquez then hit the bar and Casemiro somehow shot over with the goal at his mercy as Madrid’s dominance of the first 45 minutes left some Granada fans in tears.

Madrid had mercy on the hosts after the break, but now just need seven points from their last three games against Sevilla, Celta Vigo and Malaga to seal a first La Liga title in five years

Atletico Madrid guaranteed a top-four finish as Saul Niguez’s winner 21 minutes from time earned a 1-0 win over Eibar.

At the other end of the table Sporting Gijon kept their hopes of staying up alive with a 1-0 win over Las Palmas.

* Agence France-Presse

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