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Cape Town - Cristiano Ronaldo struck yet another hat-trick as Real Madrid stormed to a 5-0 victory over Athletic Club at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday night.
The Basque outfit have endured a torrid start to the season so a trip to in-form Real never looked like offering a great deal of comfort for Ernesto Valverde's side.
Los Blancos took just two minutes to make their mark with the deadlock broken by £160m worth of talent. Gareth Bale snaffled up a loose ball on the right edge of the box and swung over a cross for Ronaldo to head home from six yards.
Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz was in fine form, but he was always fighting a losing battle with Bale, Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez and Ronaldo bearing down on goal every few minutes scenting blood.
The crucial second arrived just five minutes before half time with Benzema nodding home from a whipped Rodriguez corner.
With the hosts rampant this appeared to open the floodgates and just 10 minutes into the second half it was 3-0. Again it was Ronaldo with the finish and again it was Bale with the assist as the Welshman passed across the six-yard line for the World Player of the Year to slot past Iraizoz.
Chances continued to come and Benzema had his second on 69 minutes after Ronaldo passed up the opportunity of a hat-trick to give the Frenchman a tap in.
Ronaldo has been racking up the hat-tricks in recent weeks and it looked like he was to be denied by the superb Iraizoz until just two minutes from time.
It was the scrappiest of the night, but Ronaldo was not too bothered, as Pepe's wayward volley struck him on the hip and bobbled into the back of the net.
