Ronaldo, Benzema star in comfy Real Madrid victory over Gijon

Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema both scored twice while Gareth Bale tallied and set up another as Real Madrid played magical football in the first half Sunday in the Santiago Bernabeu on the way to demolishing outclassed Sporting Gijon 5-1.

While no team could maintain the pace of the opening 18 minutes when Real built a 4-0 margin, the game was effectively over as a contest by then. Isma Lopez netted a consolation goal for Sporting but there was never any suspense other than how interested the hosts would be in continuing to score.

The triumph boosted Real temporarily into second place in La Liga, although both leaders Atletico Madrid and second-place Barcelona were set to kick off later Sunday. It guaranteed that Real would be no worse than third at the end of the day as they moved three points clear of fourth-placed Villarreal.

It was the second game in charge for new boss Zinedine Zidane and the Madrid faithful could be forgiven for thinking that the great French international has somehow passed his own immaculate playing skills on to the team he now directs. The way Real dismantled second-from-bottom Sporting the opening 20 minutes was breathtaking; the visitors had absolutely no answer to the avalanche of white they were trying to contain.

The only negative notes came as both Bale and Benzema picked up knocks and could not finish. Bale limped off after stretching for the ball and appearing to pick up a right calf strain in the 44th minute, then Benzema exited midway through the second half after colliding with teammate James in the box and apparently taking a leg knock. There was no immediate report on the extent of either injury.

Only seven minutes had passed when Bale put Real in front to start the cavalcade of goals. He was unmarked, inside his would-be defender as he ran onto a corner from Toni Kroos at the near post and deftly deposited his header into the far corner.

Two minutes later Ronaldo got his first, a spinning, rocket drive from 16 yards that caught the near top left corner after Benzema had slid him a pass at the top of the box. Benzema, himself, was next to tally and managed to out-do Ronaldo with an athletic overhead drive from 14-yards as he met a Bale cross first time with space to execute the difficult finish,

Sporting was reeling by now and the next two goals owed much to their defensive frailty. Ronaldo came free down the inside right channel to tap in from Dani Carvajal's cross to make it 4-0 on 18 minutes, then a deft Isco chip over the backline freed Benzema to get his second four minutes before the break.

There was a moment of glory for the visitors when Jonathan got clean away on the left, carried deep and then cut back a neat pass for Lopez to slot home in the 62nd minute.