Real Madrid 9-1 Granada: 5 talking points

Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his first ever quintuple as Real Madrid trounced a hapless Granada 9-1 at the Bernabeu, to provisionally reduce the gap at the top of the table to just a point.After an even contest in the opening few minutes, Gareth Bale triggered the onslaught in 25th minute, having coolly rounded the Granada goalkeeper to nudge home his 5th strike in last 4 outings with Blancos. An in-form Ronaldo then added 3 more in the space of just 8 minutes to make it 4-0 at halftime. The home side continued to trample the visiting team mercilessly in the second half with another 5 goals to completely overshadow the brave effort pulled off by Robert Ibanez deep in the second half.Real produced their best performance of the season and eased off some pressure mounting on them after a poor run last month. Here are the 5 talking points from the game.

#1 5-star Ronaldo

The reigning Ballon d’Or winner stole the show with his goalscoring masterclass and also trumped his arch-rival Lionel Messi at the top of the goal charts.

The year of 2015 had so far been nothing but underwhelming for Blancos and Ronaldo too, as his scoring rate alleviated dramatically. With just 3 league goals in last 8 appearances, the Portuguese entered the tie desperate for goals and evidently, he got it. More than he would've ever imagined.

Ronaldo opened his account for the evening with a sublime curling effort from the edge of the area and added 2 more in the next 8 minutes to register his fastest treble in Blancos colours. However, he was not done yet and struck another 2 in the next 45 minutes.

Bale fed him with a neat lob which he nonchalantly headed home from a close range and rounded off a memorable evening with another exquisite header from Modric’s freekick.

This was the first time that Ronaldo scored 5 in a game and first time for a Real Madrid player since 2002.

#2 Bales revival continues

The Welshman was at the receiving end of some serious admonishment for quite some time, given his appalling performances with the Whites since the turn of the year. However, Bale managed to shush some of his critics with a top-drawer performance with his national side during the international break which saw him bag a brace and assist another in Wales’ 3-0 success at Jerusalem.

Naturally, the winger was buoyed coming into the game and looked to continue his fine form, which he indeed did, with aplomb.

Bale ignited the routing shortly before the half hour mark when he latched on to a Toni Kroos pass outmuscling Granada defender Mainz, before rounding Oier to calmly tuck the ball away into an open net. While that came as some respite for the underfire Welshman, he further quelled the doubts circling his form when set up Ronaldo on 2 occasions and capped off a convincing evening on his part.

With this performance, Gareth Bale has effectively scaled down some flak and a continuation of such will see him restore the faith in the eyes of the frantic Bernabeu faithfuls.

#3 James returns with a bang

After a 2-month long injury layoff, Colombian sensation James Rodrigues marked his return to the lineup in this game and showed his side what they had been missing all this while.

The 26-year old was effective in his link-up with the players to his left – Ronaldo and Marcelo and created ample of space for the triad to get involved. James showed flickers of light with some crisp passes and incisive crosses in the final third.

The creme de la creme of his return was the 2 assists he made – he set up Ronaldo's first and then Benzema early in the second half and was rightfully subbed off with a standing ovation.

#4 Segunda division awaits Granada

Granada manager Abel Resino spoke about giving it a shot at the Bernabeu and hoping that his team caught Real on an off-day, as he made 8 changes to the starting XI. The opening 20 minutes gave him cause for optimism, as his team's high defensive line and tight midfield meant his team impeded Real from creating chances early on.

However,once Real found the breakthrough, it was Real Madrid all the way as they scored nine times in the space of 65 minutes from their first goal to last. Resino was left to helplessly on the sidelines to watch his side getting shellacked.

The defeat leaves El Grana reeling 19th in the table, 3 points adrift of the safe zone. Whats more miserable is that they are yet to play Celta Vigo, Sevilla, Valencia, Real Sociedad and then Atletico Madrid on the final matchday.

Inevitably, Granada are well on their way to Segunda division.

#5 Real Madrids title ambitions get a much needed boost

With this resounding victory, Los Meringues have cut the lead at the top to just a point, albeit playing a game more than leaders Barcelona. However, it serves as a mental boost for them after enduring a painful run of results in the past few weeks.

Goals came at an exceptional rate, Ronaldo is back to his absolute best, Luka Modric and James Rodrigues have returned to fine fettle. It is as good as things can get at the Bernabeu. These factors, in turn, are instrumental for the Madrid side who were treading a tight rope of late.

The next 2 months are the most important phase of the season and Real, presently, look prepared for it.