Real Madrid News ®: Atletico Madrid 1-4 Real Madrid

Memorable Ronaldo performance and hat-trick decide derby outcome

Fernando Porrero / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell

Real Madrid had a one point cushion over the runners-up at the start of the derby and enlarged it to four by the end thanks to a stellar performance from Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a hat-trick and increased his tally in the championship to 40.

Coentrao played as left back and Kaka also made the starting lineup in midfield. Ramos was positioned in the centre of defence again after last week's suspension and the match had a tense start worthy of a derby. Atletico pressurised in attack and looked for fast transitions, while Real Madrid tried to have long possessions. Di Maria shot from a distance two minutes in forcing Courtois to make a stretch, and a Falcao shot inside the box hit Coentrao and was sent out by Casillas (9').

Possession became even until Atletico conceded a free-kick and Ronaldo converted it in spectacular fashion (24'). Real became calmer and Atletico continued to pressurise in search of an equaliser.

The Whites used the space the locals left in their half of the pitch to look for more strikes and Benzema missed a header by inches (32'). Courtois conceded a corner kick five minutes later from a Ronaldo shot in the area just before half-time.

Ozil came on for Kaka in the second half and the Madridistas set their own pace to the match but weren't able to seal it. They eventually paid for this with a Falcao header (55') that only spurred them to put a siege on Courtois' goal while the locals tried to pull off counterattacks.

Cristiano Ronaldo pulled rank again and tallied another strike from a powerful shot from outside the box that silenced the stands (68'). This hit Atletico hard and they hardly created danger from then on, but Real did not trust them and continued their search for more goals and found a third through a penalty on Higuain that was converted by Ronaldo. Callejon replaced Di Maria on the 83-minute mark and netted a fourth for his side by finishing off a Ronaldo counterattack.

► PLAYER MOVEMENTS