Real widen gap in La Liga with three-star win

Kovacic, Ronaldo and Morata scored to help Real beat Sociedad 3-0, thereby increasing the gap with Barca and Sevilla to four points.

Goals: Kovacic 38', Ronaldo 51', Morata 82'

The win over Sociedad gave Real 46 points from 19 La Liga 2016-2017 games. This is four more than the two teams behind, Barca and Sevilla, who have 20 games. If they win against Valencia in the next match, Real can increase the gap to seven points.

While the leaders won, Barca and Sevilla both had disappointing rounds. The defending champions had to wait until the 90th minute to earn a 1-1 draw with Betis, while Sevilla lost 3-1 to Espanyol. These stumbles could prove pivotal in the title race.

Ronaldo's Real Madrid made progress while Barca and Sevilla both failed to win. Photo: Reuters

Having been eliminated from the Copa del Rey in the middle of last week, Real and Sociedad both played with determination in their direct confrontation in La Liga. If they had taken advantage of the early attacking situations, Sociedad could have taken the lead and caused difficulties for the leading team. Among them, teenager Mikel Oyarzabal stood out with a breakthrough situation, passing Sergio Ramos and forcing Casemiro to clear the ball to save. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas also had to make a lot of effort to clear the danger for Real's goal.

After a poor start, Real regained their leading form. In this performance, the Kovacic - Ronaldo duo played most effectively. In the 38th minute, the Croatian midfielder received the ball from Ronaldo and then shot diagonally to open the score. In the 51st minute, Kovacic "repaid" with a high-class pass, thereby creating conditions for CR7 to lift the ball to double the gap.

Kovacic (white shirt) had an excellent match in the central midfielder role replacing Modric.

After conceding two goals, Sociedad fell into a difficult situation when having to play with one less player. Center back Inigo Martinez received a second yellow card in the 74th minute.

Taking advantage, Real continued to press the field and scored more goals. In the 82nd minute, Morata flew to head the ball into the near corner to seal a 3-0 victory.

After the win over Sociedad, Real will have a week off before visiting Celta Vigo in round 21 of La Liga. Celta Vigo is also the opponent that eliminated Zidane's team from the King's Cup.

Morata flew to head the ball to seal the victory for Real.

According to VNE