Football
PA Sport 9y

Real Madrid ease past Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid beat Eibar

Real Madrid proved they can win without Cristiano Ronaldo as they overpowered David Moyes' Real Sociedad to win 4-1 at the Bernabeu.

With their top scorer suspended after getting sent off at Cordoba last week, Madrid looked like they barely missed the prolific Portuguese, even though they fell behind after just 40 seconds to Aritz Elustondo's header.

But James Rodriguez levelled for Madrid moments later and then Sergio Ramos scored before the break, with Karim Benzema striking twice in the second half to ensure Carlo Ancelotti's side stay top of the Primera Division for another week.

Moyes, meanwhile, suffered a third defeat as La Real coach, and is still yet to win a game on the road with the Basques.

Third-place Atletico Madrid provisionally pulled level on points with Barcelona after Mario Mandzukic grabbed a brace of early goals in a 3-1 victory at Eibar.

Atletico bounced back from their midweek elimination from the Copa del Rey to Barca with a commanding win under less than ideal playing conditions.

With the muddy field at Ipurua Stadium slowing down the ball and stopping several passes short of their recipients, Atletico smartly attacked through the air.

Antoine Griezmann scored his 11th league goal in the seventh minute after Raul Garcia sent on a ball booted forward by Tiago Cardoso.

Griezmann then lobbed a ball across for Mandzukic to redirect into the net in the 23rd, and two minutes later the striker hit again for his 10th league goal after Eibar failed to clear the ball.

Federico Piovaccari got eighth-place Eibar's goal one minute from time.

Celta Vigo rose back into 10th after beating Cordoba 1-0 with Manuel "Nolito" Agudo's beautiful curling strike supplying their first victory in 11 rounds.

Celta coach Eduardo Berizzo was sent off late for going on the pitch during a drawn-out refereeing decision.

Granada ended a 16-round winless streak dating to September by beating 10-man Elche 1-0 to provisionally escape from last place and climb free of the relegation zone.

Jhon Cordoba scrambled in their second-half winner before Damian Suarez left Elche with 10 men with his second booking in the 70th minute.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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