Marco Asensio struck an instant classic as Real Madrid returned to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Las Palmas.
After back-to-back defeats at the hands of Girona and Tottenham, victory was essential for Zinedine Zidane’s side and goals from Casemiro, Asensio and Isco delivered it.
Asensio’s will linger longest in the memory, an inconceivably sweet half-volley which mixed rare precision with maximum power.
Tweet of the match
Star man – Marco Asensio
A night where the 21-year-old nonchalantly added a few more lines to his burgeoning CV. His goal was the star attraction of the evening and one that will see plenty of heavy rotation as the season progresses. But he also delivered the hanging corner which allowed Real to open the scoring and was a constant menace. The fact that he covered almost 11 kilometres shows he is not too grand a talent to work for the team too.
Stat of the day
Cristiano Ronaldo may have been a surprising absentee from the scoresheet but the Ballon d’Or winner’s inch-perfect cross for Isco’s goal took his total league assists for Real to 84, an all-time club record. The previous mark of 83 was held by Raul, the fan favourite who Ronaldo also displaced as Real’s leading goalscorer.
Six of the worst
Reports in Spain suggest Las Palmas boss Pako Ayesteran could be close to the exit door, having now presided over six straight defeats in LaLiga. Ayesteran is the club’s second manager of the season, arriving after Manolo Marquez’s brief stay at the start of the campaign.
Ratings
Real Madrid
Kiko Casilla 7
Nacho 7
Jesus Vallejo 7
Sergio Ramos 8
Marcelo 8
Toni Kroos 8
Casemiro 8
Isco 8
Marco Asensio 9
Karim Benzema 6
Cristiano Ronaldo 8
Subs
Marcos Llorente (for Casemiro) 7
Lucas Vazquez (for Benzema) 6
Dani Ceballos (for Kroos) 6
Real Madrid
Las Palmas
Raul 6
Michel 6
Ximo Navarro
Mauricio Lemos 6
Pedro Bigas 6
Dani Castellano 5
Vicente Gomez 5
Javi Castellano 5
Alberto Aquilani 5
Jonathan Calleri 5
Vitolo 6
Subs
Loic Remy (for Gomez) 5
Hernan (for Aquilani) 5
Who’s up next?
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid (LaLiga, Nov 18).
Las Palmas v Levante (LaLiga, Nov 19).