Cristiano Ronaldo kept the feel-good factor flowing in Madrid with a brace of brilliant goals to send his team on their way to a comfortable win over Osasuna on Saturday night.
On the back of their Copa del Rey final triumph over Barcelona andMunich in the Champions League semi-final, last night’s jaunt kept their spirits high ahead of Tuesday’s return trip to Germany.
Ronaldo’s contribution was even more significant for the fact that his goals were the first registered by the Portuguese star since his return from a thigh injury, suggesting he is back to his best in time for the second leg against Bayern.
With Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema missing through illness and injury respectively – but both expected to be available on Tuesday night – Carlo Ancelotti reshaped his starting line-up by including Alvaro Morata, Isco, Asier Illarramendi, Nacho Fernandez and Raphael Varane.
But the changes did little to diminish his team’s effectiveness, with the opening goal coming after just six minutes when Ronaldo drove inside from the left wing before unleashing a spectacular 25-yard strike which dipped late into the far corner.
Only good saves from Osasuna’s Andrez Fernandez prevented more goals before the interval, with the visiting keeper doing well to keep out efforts from Luka Modric, Nacho and fellow full back Marcelo, who was back in action after nearly a month out with a hamstring injury.
Modric came close again with a fizzing long-range strike early in the second half, but soon Fernandez was powerless to stop another sublime effort from Ronaldo, who again cut inside from the left wing before drilling an unstoppable shot into the top right corner.
The third didn’t take long to arrive, either. It was started and finished by Sergio Ramos, who broke up an Osasuna attack with atackle on the edge of his own area, and then bounded forward to eventually meet a pinpoint cross from Angel Di Maria with a powerful header from 10 yards.
Madrid were in cruise control, with Osasuna never looking anything other than a beaten team from the moment they fell behind, allowing the hosts to preserve energy ahead of their European clash on Tuesday as Dani Carvajal nodded home a cross from Isco to complete the scoring.
