Real Madrid kicked off their 2016-17 La Liga season with an
impressive 3-0 triumph over Real Sociedad on Sunday night at Anoeta.
Gareth Bale
got things going early for Los Blancos with a goal in the second minute, while
Marco Asensio doubled the lead in the 40th minute, an advantage Real would
maintain the rest of the way. Bale would then tally his second of the contest
in the waning seconds to cap an excellent display to start the season.
The
performances of 20-year-old Asensio and the 23-year-old Álvaro Morata in attack
offered a glimpse into Real's future. The duo played superbly; the two years in
Turin at Juventus have made Morata a far more composed and skillful player,
while Asensio also proved a threat and took his goal extremely well. If the
Asensio/Morata/Bale trio is the future of Real, then things are surely looking
bright at the Bernabéu.
Manager
Zinedine Zidane was without a slew of starters to start the domestic season,
with Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Pepe and Keylor Navas all
missing either through injury or suspension.
But Real
still had a healthy and ready Bale and the scorching form he produced at the
end of the 2015-16 La Liga campaign was on full display in the opening seconds.
Sergio Ramos played a nice cross-field pass to Dani Carvajal, who picked out
the Welshman with a cross and Bale rose up to smack in a header past home
goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli.
Soon thereafter Rulli was called
into action to block a shot from Toni
Kroos, and then nearly saw his
teammates draw level on the half-hour mark, but inexplicably Asier Illarramendi
failed to pull the trigger when bearing down on Kiko Casilla's goal.
Two
exquisite then plays helped Real double the lead before the break, as Casemiro
expertly lofted a long ball into Asensio and the young pup from Mallorca left
Rulli flat-footed with a beautifully struck chip that softly dropped into the
back of the net to make it 2-0.
It was a
frenzied start to the second half, with both teams having chances, including a
Kroos volley that rang off the crossbar. The Basques looked to get back into
the game, but Real kept the home side from pressing to far forward and the
fresh legs of Lucas Vázquez, Isco and James off the bench made things tougher
still for Eusebio Sacristán's men.
But there
was still plenty of work for the Real defence to do in the game's latter
stages, and Casilla and Marcelo had to be alert to deny Mikel Oyarzabal late
on. Things also turned chippy between the two, with Ramos, Marcelo and Vázquez
engagimng in some pushing and shoving with Oyarzabal and Yuri, all the while
Bale was sprawled out on the turf grimacing in pain with an apparent ankle
injury.
Fortunately
for Zidane, the Welshman was eventually able to continue and he sealed the
three points for the visitors with a goal in the final seconds to close out the
3-0 scoreline.
Next for
Real is their home opener on Saturday against Celta.
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