Five-star Real Madrid ease past Legia Warsaw

18 October 2016 22:23

Real Madrid continued their resurgence with a 5-1 win over Legia Warsaw at the Bernabeu.

Zinedine Zidane's side had put six past Real Betis on Sunday to end a run of four successive draws.

There was no let up on Tuesday night as the Poles were swept aside, with Gareth Bale opening the scoring after 16 minutes before an own goal from Tomasz Jodlowiec double Real's lead.

Although Miroslav Radovic briefly reduced the arrears from the penalty spot, there was no way back once Marco Asensio added a third before substitutes Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Morata completed the route.

Real remain in second place in Group F, level on six points with Borussia Dortmund, who won away at Sporting Lisbon.

The hosts had made a positive start, with Cristiano Ronaldo's effort going into the side-netting, and the visitors were out of luck themselves in the 11th minute.

Midfielder Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, who joined from English club Norwich in the summer, cut in from the right and sent a low shot which beat Keylor Navas but came back off the base of the far post.

Before Legia Warsaw could regroup for another counter-attack, they found themselves 1-0 down.

Bale ran into space down the right channel after 16 minutes and t he Wales forward cut back inside his marker into the penalty area and drilled a low left-foot shot into the far corner.

Real remained on the offensive and doubled their lead in the 20th minute when Karim Benzema fed Marcelo on the edge of the Legia penalty area. The defender's low shot was deflected off Tomasz Jodlowiec and past a wrong-footed Arkadiusz Malarz in the Legia goal.

Legia, though, were immediately handed a way back into the match when Kleper Pepe tripped Radovic to concede a penalty and t he Serbian forward got up to take the spot-kick himself, coolly beating Navas with a low shot into the bottom right corner.

Ronaldo had a chance to move a step closer to his 100th European goal with a 25-yard free-kick, but Malarz got across to make a smart save.

The Legia keeper was, however, soon beaten again when Danilo cut the ball back to Ronaldo in the penalty area, and the Portugal forward laid it off to Asensio, who slotted home on 37 minutes.

Real continued where they had left off when the second half got under way as Malarz turned away Benzema's volley.

Ronaldo hit a low free-kick into the wall, before Madrid further extended their lead in the 68th minute.

Morata, who had come on for Bale, darted down the left before clipping the ball back through the Legia penalty area, where fellow substitute Vazquez arrived at the far post to drill in a low shot from six yards.

Ronaldo shot wide before, with six minutes left, setting up Morata with a lay-off into the left side of the penalty area, and the Spain forward finished inside the near post.

The Portugal international was denied capping an impressive performance with a late goal when Malarz produced another fine save to tip the ball over.

Source: PA