A brace from Cristiano Ronaldo enabled Real Madrid to beat fourth-placed Sevilla 4-1 in their La Liga clash on Sunday, as Los Blancos kept pace with arch-rivals Barcelona in the title-race with the win.
While the scoreline may suggest an easy win, Sevilla did make life difficult for the home side. Had Keylor Navas not been in such inspired form, the result may well have been different.
After Nacho had struck a somewhat controversial 9th-minute opener for the Zinedine Zidane’s men, Sevilla were stung into action and with Stevan Jovetic leading the line, they bombarded Navas’ goal.
But, due to a combination of the Costa Rican’s superb display between the sticks and Sevilla’s propensity to hit the post, Madrid were 2-0 up at half-time and looking comfortable.
Zidane had rested several big-names, with Marcelo, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Casemiro all on the bench, as Toni Kroos partnered Mateo Kovacic and Marco Asensio in midfield with Ronaldo, James Rodridguez and Alvaro Morata leading the line for Los Blancos.
Despite having a wealth of attacking talent at their disposal, it would be the unassuming Nacho who gave the home side a vital breakthrough. Playing as a left-back, he scored from a freekick near the edge of the box even as the Sevilla players remonstrated with the referee about the decision to award Madrid a set-piece after Asensio had tumbled on the edge of the box.
Ronaldo doubled Madrid’s lead in the 23rd minute, bundling in a rebound from close range to notch his 21st league goal of the season.
After the break, Sevilla remained unfettered by their earlier misses and kept attacking the home side, eventually getting the goal they deserved when Jovetic finished off a flowing move in the 49th minute.
It took Madrid a while to get going in the second period and despite seeing their lead whittled down to just one, they looked unable to score a third which would effectively seal the result in their favour.
As the clock ticked on, the mood in Santiago Bernabeu was tense and it took a thundering strike from Ronaldo to put the home side at ease. The Portuguese slammed home Kroos’ cutback after brilliantly making room for himself in the box with a smart run before sending home a powerful left-footed shot which cannoned in off the post.
Kroos then put the icing on the cake with six minutes to go with a cool finish, as Madrid ensured that the title-race will go down to the last day of the season.
Level on points with their arch-rivals Barcelona, Los Blancos are second due to an inferior head-to-head record. However, they have two games left to play (Celta Vigo away and Malaga Away) while Barcelona have just one (Eibar home) which gives them the upper hand as the La Liga season nears its conclusion.