Real Madrid, who were without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, defeated Deportivo La Coruna 3-0 at Estadio Municipal de Riazor on Sunday night to begin the defence of their La Liga title.
Despite being reduced to 10 men with a late red card for captain Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale, Casemiro and Toni Kroos were on the scoresheet for Zinedine Zidane’s champions.
Bale got Madrid ahead in the 20th minute when he latched onto the ball after receiving a pass from Karim Benzema. Luca Modric’s initial shot rebounded in front of the Frenchman who simply passed the ball to the Welshman.
Madrid doubled their lead seven minutes later through Casemiro who tapped home the ball from a simple Marcelo pass.
Deportivo’s Fabian Schar and Ramos were booked for squaring up to each other after Modric kicked the ball away with a Deportivo player down injured. Modric himself soon got into the referee’s books for a professional foul.
Toni Kroos made it 3-0 for the Spanish champions in the 62nd minute of the game. Marco Asensio’s dipping freekick was punched out by Deportivo La Coruna keeper,
Kaylor Navas saved an 89th minute penalty kick taken by Florin Andone.
Madrid was then reduced to ten men as Ramos got his second yellow of the match for a foul on Borjan Valle.