Real Madrid cruised to a 5-2 win over Real Sociedad in a La Liga clash at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night.

Cristiano Ronaldo led the goal-scoring with a hat-trick after Lucas Vasquez made the breakthrough inside the first minute while Toni Kroos curled one in from outside the area as well.

Here, we look at three things we learned from the encounter.

RONALDO REDISCOVERS LA LIGA FORM

Despite his poor showing at Levante, Ronaldo appears to be regaining some form in the league. A treble against Sociedad means he’s now scored 15 La Liga goals against them at the Bernabeu itself, more than he has against any other opposition,

His hat-trick was also his third goal-scoring return in the last four league outings, accounting for 39% of his tally in Spain’s top flight this season.

The Portuguese now also holds the distinction of leading the league’s goal-scoring charts for the second half of the season with seven to his name, confirming his resurgence in the division.

Against Sociedad though, it wasn’t just his goal-scoring that impressed. He set up Lucas Vasquez for the opener and should’ve had another assist when Karim Benzema’s effort was deflected wide.

He also hit the post on one occasion and his movement was devastating. He’s starting to look at his sharpest again.

INTENSITY IS KEY FOR REAL MADRID

With the hosts opening the scoring inside the first minute, the fact that they began the game like a house on fire is a fairly easy conclusion to draw but it’s also a significant one.

Too often this season have Madrid started games slowly or taken their foot off the gas too soon. On this occasion, they maintained the tempo, launching wave after wave of attacks despite the early breakthrough.

The players seemed up for the clash and were relentless in the first half. Having already scored four before half-time, naturally things settled in the second period, especially as Zinedine Zidane began to make changes with the Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain in midweek in mind.

But the job was done by then and perhaps a similar approach throughout the campaign would’ve seen them in a far better position at this stage.

FORMATION DILEMMA FOR ZIDANE

The 4-4-2 formation that has worked wonders for Real Madrid on occasion in the past and was revived to great effect against Sociedad.

The movement and intelligence of the personnel is what makes the system work although on paper, it may seem a little rigid.

Marco Asensio regularly stepped up and made it a front three in attack or dropped in behind Ronaldo and Karim Benzema with Vasquez pushing forward.

The problem however arises at the other end of the pitch and that’s where their concerns will lie when they face PSG.

Luka Modric and Kroos on their own make for a soft centre. With the full-backs overlapping, there’s also a lot of pressure on the centre-backs to read danger early and be on top of things. Raphael Varane in particular has looked suspect all season.

Sociedad got in way too easily to score their first with the Frenchman and Dani Carvajal behind caught out of position.

The system may be potent in an attacking sense but certainly leaves Madrid vulnerable at the back.