Injuries take shine off easy Real Madrid win

Real Madrid's Gareth Bale (C) scores his first goal against Sporting Gijon at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain, Jan 17, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

MADRID - Real Madrid enjoyed a stroll in the park as they thrashed a hapless Sporting Giijon 5-1 as Zinedine Zidane enjoyed a second comfortable win in two games in charge but in which his team ended up with two important players injured.

Sporting arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu with several players out injured after a run of results which saw them kick the game off second from bottom of the BBVA Primera Liga table, while Real Madrid needed a win in order to keep the pressure on Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona at the top of the league.

The game lasted roughly 17 minutes as a contest as a good Real Madrid blew a poor Sporting off the pitch with three early goals.

Gareth Bale headed them ahead in the eighth minute following a Cristiano Ronaldo cross and Ronaldo scored the second a minute later when he received the ball with his back to goal and was allowed to turn and shoot.

On 13 minutes Bale crossed for Benzema to score an acrobatic third and Ronaldo slotted in the fourth four minutes later.

From that moment it was just a matter of survival for Sporting, although they were given a slight breather as Real Madrid took their foot off the gas.

However, in the 40th minute Benzema made it 5-0 after neat work from Isco, who was again preferred by Zidane in the starting 11.

The only bad news was that Bale had to leave the pitch with a slight muscle injury just before the break and was replaced by Jese.

With the game won, Real Madrid took their foot off the gas and Sporting salvaged some pride with a goal from Ismael Lopez early in the second half. The other bad news for Real Madrid was Benzema also suffered an injury which could be a problem in the coming weeks.