Deportivo 0-3 Real Madrid: Real Cruise to a Comfortable Victory on the Opening Day of the Season

Goals from Bale, Casemiro and Kross sunk Deportivo to an opening day defeat against a very strong Real side, looking to retain their La Liga title. 

Benzema and Bale stepped up in Ronaldo's absence and showed that they were more than capable to cope without him.

Despite the opening possession all belonging to Real Madrid, it was Deportivo and Andone with the opening chances forcing a number of good saves out of Navas.

Andone, a target for Burnley, looked lively all evening and provided an outlet for Deportivo with his pace in behind.

Real finally broke the deadlock in the 20th minute of the game. After Luka Modric's shot was parried, Benzema was there to square it to Bale who had a tap-in from two yards.

Casemiro doubled the lead six minutes later after brilliant work from Marcelo left the holding midfielder with a simple task of putting the ball into the empty net.

The tap-in was the culmination of a minute and a half of complete possession.

The second half continued in a similar vein to the first half with Real controlling the possession and tempo of the game.

Ramos could have made the evening uncomfortable for his side when he raised his hands at Schaar but luckily the ref seemed not to see it and he avoided the red card, he would not be so lucky later on in the game.

Modric was seemingly given complete freedom in midfield with no-one picking him up or tracking his movement.

His midfield partner Kross rounded off the game, making it three nil. A well-worked throw led to a Bale setting up the German on the edge of the box to smash it home via the aid of a deflection.

Further chances did fall Real's way but Deportivo offered a more stubborn resistance in the second half and were able to limit the score to three.

The two blots on the coffee sheet came late on for Real. Firstly was the foul by Carvajal which gave Andone the chance to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot. Fortunately for him, he was once again thwarted by Navas. 

The second blot was the second yellow given to Ramos after he was perceived to have lead with an elbow going up with for a header.

The convincing scoreline means that Real Madrid top the table on the opening weekend of the season and look to be a force to be reckoned with.