As Real Madrid swept aside Eibar in their first match in LaLiga, Eden Hazard impressed since the season started to resume. Real Madrid has made a strong return to the LaLiga action as they beat Eibar 3-1 on Sunday in the Spanish capital.
Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo eased Madrid into a safe half-time lead, with Pedro Bigas’ second half of the visitors’ success offering nothing but a consolation.
With Barcelona winning 4-0 a day earlier in Real Mallorca, Los Blancos was pressured to follow suit and close the gap back to two points on top of the table.
Madrid’s home games take place at Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium in Castilla while the Santiago Bernabeu is undergoing renovation work, but the change in venue has made little difference as the home side celebrated Zinedine Zidane’s 200th fashion winning game.
Kroos broke the deadlock in the fourth minute with a spectacular first-time shot inside the box from the right, looping past goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.
After more good interplay between Hazard and Karim Benzema, Marcelo ‘s crisp strike into the bottom-right corner made it 3-0 ahead of the break, Brazil left-back taking a knee after drilling home his season’s first league goal.
Eibar responded well but after half an hour, they were down 2-0. Ramos stepped out to intercept a pass and sparked a rapid counter-attack move that ended with the Madrid captain tapping the impressive Eden Hazard into an unselfish square ball that was back in the line-up for the first time since February after recovering from an ankle fracture.
Thibaut Courtois saved superbly from Edu Exposito and Sergi Enrich struck the bar with a header before the shot by Pablo De Blasis deflected Bigas and bobbled to give Eibar a lifeline beyond Courtois.
It was a fairly pedestrian second half from Madrid, with Hazard and Ramos taking off and Marcelo dealing with a knock but Eibar couldn’t make a comeback.
