Real Madrid Beats Celta de Vigo: 3-0

The 3-0 win allowed Real Madrid to accumulate 44 points, cutting the La Liga rankings gap to 5 points behind Barca and Atletico.

Real Madrid’s recent victory was led by Karim Benzema’s opening goal an hour and seven minutes into the game. Ronaldo then scored a late double. The first one was achieved in the 82nd minute, close range. The second goal was scored with the assistance of Gareth Bale.

Bale, a substitute, was only brought into the second half of the game, in the 65th minute to be exact. He has just returned to training last past week after recovering from a calf injury.

Real Madrid needed to win the game as frontrunners Barcelona and Atletico already won their first matches for the year. The pressure was quite obvious on the team, especially with Celta having had numerous chances to score a goal.

In a news conference, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti conceded that it was not a good performance for the team and that there was a need “to learn how to be tighter at the back.” “We lacked balance as we had a lot of players going forward and were open to the counter-attack,” Ancelotti added.

The defense from Celta was challenging enough that the Real Madrid coach thought that the team “should have been more balanced when we pressed.”

Ronaldo’s performance in the game was certainly not his best but he still managed to score a handsome win for Real.

400th Career Goal

Dubbed as the most expensive footballer in history, Cristiano Ronaldo further solidifies his record as the player with the most goals for Real Madrid and also the Real Madrid player with the most goals per minute in La Liga. The goals he scored at the Bernabeu game are his 164th and 165th in La Liga, and the 19th and 20th of La Liga’s current season.

It was only in January 2013 when 28-year-old Ronaldo scored his 300th club goal.

Ronaldo’s 12-year career now logs a record of 5 goals for Sporting Lisbon, 118 for Manchester United, 230 for Madrid, and 47 for Portugal. He scored 259 of his 400 total goals to date with his right foot.

The player has been through 653 games versus 109 teams throughout his career. After the last double score, his goal average is now at 0.61 per game. His record also includes 99 penalties and free kicks.

Ronaldo is a favorite to win the Ballon d’Or award, which is to be announced on January 13.

Tribute to Eusebio

Before the game started, a moment of silence was offered for celebrated Portuguese footballer Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, more popularly known simply as Eusebio. He died from a heart attack in January 5. He was 71.

Ronaldo appeared to have offered his own tribute to Eusebio when he raised his arms to the sky after scoring his second goal.

Photo Credit: Cristiano Ronaldo