Real Madrid vs. Elche: Winners and Losers from La Liga Game
Real Madrid scored five or more goals for the third consecutive match by defeating Elche 5-1 at the Bernabeu on Tuesday evening.
The away side took an early lead, but Madrid levelled through Gareth Bale and eventually went on to record a comfortable victory thanks to four goals from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Here are the winners and losers from Real Madrid's 5-1 win over Elche.
Winner: Cristiano Ronaldo
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Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 24th hat-trick of his Real Madrid career in the 8-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday. On Tuesday, he notched the 25th.
"If you're still counting...@Cristiano has scored 25 hat tricks for Real Madrid
— Phil Kitromilides (@PhilKitro) September 23, 2014"
It was Ronaldo who put Madrid ahead from the penalty spot on 28 minutes following Elche's early goal and Gareth Bale's headed equaliser.
He added his second with a strong header from a Marcelo cross before half-time and then completed his hat-trick with another penalty in the 80th minute.
There was still time for him to add a fourth in stoppage time with a stabbed finish from Bale's through ball.
It was hoped that the extended rest period he enjoyed through the international break would do him good. Nine goals in four matches since certainly suggests it has.
Loser: Real Madrid's Defensive Balance
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Asier Illarramendi was handed his first start of the season, but his inclusion in the Madrid midfield did not provide the solidity Carlo Ancelotti would have hoped for.
Illarramendi was not always personally at fault. He was, though, part of a defensive unit that did at times give up a lot of space to the visitors.
Elche attacking midfielder Ferran Corominas semi-regularly found space between the lines, from where he looked to release the wide players in behind Madrid’s full-backs.
Dani Carvajal and Marcelo were both booked within the opening 20 minutes after fouling Elche players who were threatening to burst past them towards goal.
Corominas himself received a pass inside of Marcelo and fired over early in the second half.
Elche did not create many chances of particular note, but they did get into promising positions with relative ease.
Top-ranking Primera Division teams, and those Madrid will face in the latter stages of the Champions League, will be better equipped to take full advantage of such situations.
Winner: Iker Casillas
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Carlo Ancelotti provided Keylor Navas with a chance to show why he should be picked ahead of Iker Casillas, but the Costa Rican international had little opportunity to show what he can do.
He was beaten by Edu Albacar's well-struck penalty but was not otherwise called into serious action. Elche created some promising situations but did not produce any telling efforts on target.
Casillas would surely have allowed himself a wry smile on the substitutes' bench.
The Spanish international has come under pressure in the early weeks of the season following some uncertain performances—most notably in the 4-2 defeat away to Real Sociedad.
He was on the receiving end of whistles from the Bernabeu crowd during the recent matches against Atletico Madrid (1-2) and Basel (5-1). There were also question marks over his positioning for Deportivo La Coruna's second goal in Madrid's 8-2 victory on Saturday.
If Navas had produced two or three noteworthy saves—saves that would have been replayed ad nauseam on Spanish television for the rest of the week—Casillas' regular place in the side would have come under serious threat.
As it was, Navas was underemployed and unable to make a strong impression. Casillas therefore remains the favourite to take the gloves for Saturday's trip to Villarreal.
Loser: Manu Herrera
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Elche had a goalkeeping conundrum of their own to solve coming into Tuesday’s match.
Per Juanma Trueba of AS, a number of the club's supporters were unhappy with the performances of new signing Przemyslaw Tyton and had called for last season's No. 1, Manu Herrera, to be restored to the starting lineup in his place.
Their calls were heeded, and it was Herrera who lined up between the sticks at the Bernabeu. He did not, however, have a match to remember.
After a couple of nervy clearances early on, Herrera provided Madrid with a route back into the match when he failed to keep out Gareth Bale's flicked header.
He was slow to get down to the ball and unable to stop it slipping past his outstretched arms and into the back of the net.
Herrera made a couple of good saves thereafter—from Toni Kroos and Cristiano Ronaldo—but also looked very uncomfortable when dealing with high balls into the area.
Although he was not directly at fault for any of the remaining four goals, it would be difficult to make a case for his continued inclusion in the team on the back of his performance on Tuesday.
Loser: Clos Gomez
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The referee, Clos Gomez, did not have the best of matches and gave two highly questionable penalties inside the opening half hour of play.
The first was perhaps understandable.
Cristiano Ronaldo made strong contact with Pedro Mosquera as he swung his boot to try and clear, missed and instead struck the Elche midfielder. However, Mosquera was not in control of the ball and most referees would surely have interpreted it as a harmless collision.
The second was much stranger.
Mosquera cleared a low pass into the area with Marcelo in close attendance, Marcelo went to ground and Gomez pointed to the spot.
To a cynic, it looked very much like an attempt to even things out.
He otherwise gave two free-kicks on the edge of the area—one for Elche, one for Real Madrid—for infractions that looked very close to being inside the 18-yard box.
It was certainly not a match that he and his assistants will enjoy seeing over.
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