Cristiano and Benzema join forces to beat Athletic

Three minutes were all Cristiano Ronaldo needed to demonstrate how serious Real Madrid CF were taking their Liga BBVA matchday seven fixture. The victims this time were Athletic Club, who have now gone seven games without a win in all competitions after losing 5-0 in the Santiago Bernabéu, and will now have to wait until after the international break for a chance to crawl out of the relegation zone.

The Portuguese man scored the opener with the first chance of the game and tried his luck again four minutes later, but his shot went just wide of the post. From then on the Whites were brimming with confidence and controlled the game until an Iker Muniain effort was pushed over the Real Madrid bar. That was Ernesto Valverde's side's best chance up until that point, and they soon rued the missed opportunity when just before the break Real Madrid widened the gap after Karim Benzema headed home a corner.

The home team came out of the traps flying in the second half and a great bit of team play saw Cristiano grab the third goal of the night. Benzema also got a brace by tapping in a low cross from his Portuguese teammate on the left. Ronaldo got another goal late on to record his twenty-second Liga BBVA hat-trick. While Athletic were quite toothless in attack, during the final few minutes their goalkeeper, Gorka Iraizoz, put on an heroic display by prevented an even more embarrassing scoreline for the Lions.