goals between them as Real Madrid romped to
a 7-3 win in a thrilling clash with Sevilla on
Wednesday.
Ronaldo struck a first-half penalty before
netting twice in the second period to become
the club's fourth-highest Liga goalscorer with
157 goals, one more than the legendary Ferenc
Puskas.
On a record-breaking night at Santiago
Bernabeu, Bale also capped his first start at
home with two first-half strikes.
Madrid saw their 3-0 lead reduced before the
break as an Ivan Rakitic penalty and close-
range strike from Carlos Bacca brought the
visitors to within a goal.
The hosts, however, turned on the style in the
second half as Karim Benzema and Ronaldo
both found the net twice to seal a comfortable
victory, despite Rakitic curling home a third
for the visitors. Rakitic also missed from the
spot and Stephane M'Bia was sent off for two
yellow cards in a frantic encounter.
Carlo Ancelotti made four changes from
Saturday's Clasico defeat to Barcelona, while
Sevilla - without an away win in 13 months -
made a single change from their victory over
Osasuna.
Madrid enjoyed the perfect start following a
low-key performance at Camp Nou and took
the lead through Bale in the 14th minute.
Isco ran the ball out of his own half and
played a neat ball into Benzema, the
Frenchman rolled the ball back into the Wales
international and he fired into the top corner.
Sevilla were struggling to find any end product
despite neat build-up play when they did have
the ball, and their task became even tougher
when Bale netted his second of the night.
Madrid were awarded a free kick 25 yards
from goal after a crude challenge by Rakitic on
Ronaldo in the 26th minute. Bale took the set
piece and saw his effort deflect off the wall to
wrong-foot Beto as it flew into the opposite
corner.
The hosts moved 3-0 ahead after some poor
defending from Fernando Navarro allowed Isco
to dispossess him on the edge of the area. The
defender then brought the forward down
inside the area and Ronaldo made no mistake
from the spot.
Sevilla were given a way back into the game
when Sergio Ramos bundled Diogo Figueiras to
the floor in the 38th minute and they had a
penalty of their own.
Rakitic grabbed the ball and made no mistake
with a well-placed spot-kick for his first goal
of the season.
And the visitors reduced the deficit even
further two minutes later as Vitolo and Jairo
Samperio combined well to give Bacca the
easy task of firing into the empty goal.
Unai Emery's side should have levelled early in
the second half after creating a fantastic
opening for Jairo, but he was unable to
convert it and the hosts broke on the
counterattack with Ronaldo.
Ronaldo found Bale on the right who delivered
a low cross to Benzema and the Frenchman
fired home to end a seven-game run without a
goal.
On the hour mark, Ronaldo netted his second
of the game after meeting a cross from Bale to
fire past Beto, but Rakitic kept his side in the
game with an exquisite finish from the edge of
the area after neat work from substitute Diego
Perotti.
But the night belonged to Portugal
international Ronaldo as he completed his hat-
trick in the 71st minute before Benzema
added his second in the 80th minute to secure
the win, with Rakitic slamming a spot kick
against the crossbar in between Madrid's sixth
and seventh goals .
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