5 talking points: Espanyol 0-6 Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo bagged the second quintet of his career to break his mini goal drought of this season as Real Madrid dispatched Espanyol by pumping in six past the hapless Barcelona based club.Having drawn a blank in the opening two La Liga games of the campaign, the Portuguese ace was frustrated even more when he failed to break the duck even with his national side last week. But it was all worth it as he responded in a blistering fashion, netting five times in the game, and moreover, was involved in the other one as he laid an inch-perfect cross to Benzema for an easy finish.Real Madrid continued to rattle their imperious attacking force as they now prepare to welcome Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League opener on Tuesday.Here are the five talking points from the lop-sided affair at Cornella-El Prat.

#1 The beast comes storming back

They say when it rains, it pours. And Cristiano Ronaldo has exemplified the adage remarkably. Going even two or three games without getting on the scoresheet is a worrying prospect for the Portuguese ace, for such is the stratospheric standard he has set for himself. In the two league and international fixtures this term, the winger endured a barren run of goals and entered this game desperate to end the dry spell. 

And boy did he do that.

After a few minutes of normal exchanges between the two sides, Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 7th minute with a cool finish cutting-in from the left, and doubled his tally with a well-taken penalty. It took him just three more minutes to get his third of the evening when he latched on to a Gareth Bale pass to squeeze the ball in for his 29th La Liga treble.

Later on, Ronaldo turned the provider for Benzema when he laid a sumptuous cross for the Frenchman to make an effortless tap-in. The visitors headed back to the dressing room with a commanding 4-0 lead, but the former Manchester United man wasn’t done for the day yet.

He bagged another two in the closing half of the game to take his tally to five for the evening and rounded off a record-breaking night as he now leads the all-time La Liga charts in Blancos’ history with 230 goals, surpassing Raul’s previously held record of 228. And as a matter of fact, Ronaldo is also the first player in Real Madrid’s history to do the quintet twice, and only the third ever in football.