No Ronaldo. No Bale. No Benzema. No problem. Real Madrid’s young, hungry B-team might be better than Zinedine Zidane’s star-riddled first-team.
The Frenchman rang the changes, nine in total, after Sunday’s Clasico sucker-punch by Barcelona, both forced and unforced, and his so-called reserves dismantled Deportivo and showed the Catalans they are not giving up the fight for La Liga.
Even though the personnel was different, the club was stung and it showed. Madrid came out swinging. Mugged by Barcelona in the last minute they came out with a knife between their teeth at the Riazor to take revenge and Deportivo happened to be the chumps standing in their way.
It took 52 seconds for Alvaro Morata to blast Los Blancos ahead, with Danilo winning the ball back on the right and feeding Isco, who slipped in his Spanish compatriot.
Madrid’s second goal came in the 14th minute, with James Rodriguez, yet another player linked with an exit from the Santiago Bernabeu, finishing sublimely after Lucas Vazquez’s low cross.
Casmeiro, Lucas Vazquez and Isco also scored to condemn Deportivo La Coruna to a 6-2 win.
Earlier on, Barcelona had registered a commendable 7-1 victory over Osasuna thanks to goals from Lionel Messi, Paco Alcer and Andre Gomes who scored a brace each and Javier Mascherano who scored his first Barcelona goal after over 300 games.
In the premier league, Arsenal yesterday maintained hopes of securing a champions league slot with a one nil win over Leicester in the English Premier League.
The match appeared to be headed for a barren until the Foxes defender Robert Huth deflected Nacho Monreal’s shot to his own goal. The win leaves Arsenal in sixth place with sixty points with a game in hand.
Elsewhere Tottenham maintained their pressure on league leaders with a one nil win over Crystal Palace. Christian Eriksen scored Spurs lone goal with twelve minutes to stoppage time.
-Dailymail