Real Sociedad 1 Real Madrid 3: Mayoral and Bale crucial as Zidane's men return to winning ways

Real Sociedad 1 Real Madrid 3: Mayoral and Bale crucial as Zidane's men return to winning ways

Real Sociedad 1 Real Madrid 3: Mayoral and Bale crucial as Zidane's men return to winning ways

Real Sociedad 1 Real Madrid 3: Mayoral and Bale crucial as Zidane's men return to winning ways

Borja Mayoral and Gareth Bale did the damage as a depleted Real Madrid avoided dropping points for the third LaLiga game in a row by beating Real Sociedad 3-1 at Anoeta on Sunday in a commendable display.
Madrid's hosts went into the match having won all three of their previous league games, but Zinedine Zidane's men rose to the challenge despite being without Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo and Karim Benzema, as Mayoral had a hand in the first two goals, before the under-fire Bale - who was otherwise quiet - wrapped things up.
The reigning champions looked in fine shape right from the start against an in-form La Real and were fully deserving of the lead when Mayoral – making his first LaLiga start since this fixture in April 2016 – slammed home 19 minutes in.
Real Sociedad's Kevin Rodrigues endured a turbulent half, as he initially levelled in 28th minute, before then seeing another effort hit the crossbar in a passage of play that ended with the left-back scoring an own goal following a swift Madrid break.
Madrid were rather more willing to sit back and counter at the break and that worked brilliantly when Bale broke away to score their third goal just after the hour mark.
La Real enjoyed plenty of possession towards the end and piled men forward in the hope of a late comeback, but the visitors produced a professional display and had little difficulty keeping their two-goal lead intact.
Madrid were quick out of the blocks at Anoeta and Marco Asensio went close twice inside 16 minutes, seeing two efforts blocked after brilliant work by full-backs Dani Carvajal and Theo Hernandez.
There was no stopping Mayoral in the 19th minute, though, as he slammed home from close range after Sergio Ramos had held the ball up brilliantly for the young striker.
But La Real were level again soon after – Rodrigues meeting Odriozola's deep right-wing cross with a left-footed volley that squirmed under Keylor Navas, who should have kept it out.
The same combo caused havoc again in the 36th minute, but Rodrigues' volley this time hit the floor and bounced up onto the crossbar.
And Madrid marched straight up the other end to re-take the lead, as Mayoral rode one challenge, skipped past another on the halfway line and then beat Diego Llorente in the penalty area, allowing him to play a low ball into the danger zone for Rodrigues to accidentally put past his own goalkeeper.
The match was played with similar ferocity after the break and both sides had chances within six minutes of the restart – Llorente heading straight at Navas, before Mayoral stung the palms of Geronimo Rulli and then smashed the rebound into the side-netting.
Rulli was powerless to resist in the 61st minute, however, as Bale charged on to Isco's lofted pass over the defence, outpaced Rodrigues and then dinked a clever finish over the approaching goalkeeper.
La Real's need to push men forward left spaces at the back towards the end, and both Isco and substitute Lucas Vazquez went close – the former shooting just over from distance, before Rulli denied the Madrid winger.
David Zurutuza should have at least made the ending a little tense for Madrid when he was played through on goal five minutes before the end, but Dani Carvajal made a vital last-ditch tackle and the away side ultimately crossed the line.
Gasol inspires dominant Spain once again

Gasol inspires dominant Spain once again

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Gasol inspires dominant Spain once again

Gasol inspires dominant Spain once again

Pau Gasol inspired Spain to another dominant win as the reigning EuroBasket champions thrashed Czech Republic 93-56 to start their title defence with back-to-back victories.
San Antonio Spurs star Gasol – MVP at this tournament two years ago – led the way with 26 points and eight rebounds as Spain followed on from their opening 99-60 hammering of Montenegro in Group C.
With an NBA headline act of their own, Montenegro bounced back with 72-48 victory over Hungary, Orlando Magic forward Nikola Vucevic putting up 13 points and seven rebounds.
Croatia joined Spain in staying perfect with a 74-58 defeat of joint hosts Romania.
Lithuania, 2015 EuroBasket runners-up, recovered from their surprise Group B loss to Georgia by downing another of the hosts, as Israel's strong first-quarter showing proved in vain in an 88-73 reverse.
Also in that pool, Georgia were brought back down to earth in a 67-57 loss to Germany, and Italy overcame Ukraine 78-66.
In Group A there was a 95-87 win for France over Greece, Poland eased past Iceland 91-61, while Slovenia battled to a narrow 81-78 win against Finland.
Latvia's Kristaps Porzingis shrugged off the disappointment of his debut loss to Serbia by sinking 27 points in his country's 92-64 Group D triumph over Belgium.
And finally, from that same group, Russia beat Rio 2016 silver medallists Serbia 75-72, and Great Britain lost 84-70 to Turkey.

Manchester United 4 Everton 0: Late surge blows Koeman's men away to pile pressure on Dutchman

Manchester United 4 Everton 0: Late surge blows Koeman's men away to pile pressure on Dutchman

Wayne Rooney's first return to Old Trafford since leaving Manchester United in the close-season ultimately ended in a 4-0 thumping thanks to three late goals, as Romelu Lukaku scored against former side Everton to heap the pressure on Ronald Koeman.
United were poor for much of Sunday's Premier League match, but blew Everton away in the final stages, with Rooney – who previously missed a couple of good chances – powerless to help following his substitution in the 82nd minute.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial all netted after Rooney's exit to condemn Everton to a fourth successive defeat in all competitions.
Unsurprisingly, most of the pre-match attention was on Rooney and Lukaku, but within four minutes of kick-off Antonio Valencia had successfully made himself the man of the moment with a simply spectacular 20-yard strike.
Everton did improve as the first period went on, with Rooney squandering a decent chance, but United remained the bigger threat and Lukaku should have scored on two separate occasions.
United were poor after the break, however, with their attacks becoming predictable and slow, while David de Gea twice bailed them out when denying Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson.
But in the final seven minutes United came to life once again to punish Koeman and Everton, as Lukaku set up Mkhitaryan, scored himself and then saw Martial fire home a penalty, extending Everton's winless run to six games in all competitions to further increase the scrutiny on Koeman.