Ronaldo's day included a first half hat trick, plus a goal in the second half, while Karim Benzema also collected a goal in the second half. Gareth Bale starred as well, with two assists and earned a penalty for the visitors.
It was also a historical day for Ronaldo, as he became Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer in La Liga with 230 goals, surpassing Raúl’s mark of 228.
With James out injured, manager Rafa Benítez had to change his starting XI from the Betis win, with Isco taking up the third spot in attacking midfield in the 4-2-3-1 formation along with Ronaldo and Bale in support of lone striker Karim Benzema. Casemiro got the start with Luka Modric as the holding midfielders, while the back four of Dani Carvajal, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo were charged with helping goalkeeper Keylor Navas keep a clean sheet.
There had been a lot of talk about Ronaldo's scoring drought heading into the match, but the Portuguese quieted any talk of a slump with a strike to open the scoring in the seventh minute. Modric looped in a perfect ball for Ronaldo to run onto on the left side and the Ballon d'Or winner took it from there, sliding a shot past Espanyol goalkeeper Pau for the score.
It was just the lift Real needed, and not 10 minutes later he put Los Blancos up 2-0 by converting a penalty after Bale had been taken down in the Espanyol area.
The dream start for Ronaldo continued three minutes later in the 20th by completing the stunning hat trick. Bale whipped in a cross from the left and Ronaldo was there to meet it and pile-drive the ball past Pau to hand the guests a 3-0 advantage.
It was almost like Espanyol weren't even on the field, Real were making it look so easy. Things got worse for the home side in the 29th minute as Real added a fourth. Bale led a charge into the Espanyol area, fed Ronaldo on the left who crossed for Benzema and it was an easy push into the net for the Frenchman at the back post.
Three minutes before the break Espanyol were lucky not to have allowed a fifth, as Benzema came within inches of making it five, only to see his shot from the right ping off the post.
The Bale-Ronaldo connection hooked up again in the second half, allowing the former Manchester United man to score his fourth of the match in the 62nd minute. Bale fired in a cross from the right and it was an easy sweep into net for Ronaldo to give Real a 5-0 lead.
It was a relatively quiet day for Navas, but he did get a chance to show his quality with a top-notch save in the 71st minute when he denied Gerard on a header that the Costa Rican managed to block and Salva Sevilla’s rebound bounced wide.
The Ronaldo party was capped off in the 81st minute with his fifth of the day. It started with Bale slipping a ball into Lucas Vazquez, who deked past an Espanyol defender before finding an unmarked Ronaldo right in front of goal and the Portuguese thumped a ball past Pau for the fifth time to extend the Real lead to 6-0 and finish off the match.
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