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Happy return for Ronaldo as Real Madrid beat Osasuna

Xinhua, September 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cristiano Ronaldo needed just six minutes before he was able to celebrate his return from injury against Osasuna with a goal on Saturday afternoon.

Ronaldo was left with the simplest of tap-ins after Gareth Bale broke the visitors' offside trap to square the ball for the Portuguese international to score.

On paper the game looked as if it was going to be straightforward for Madrid as they faced a side recently promoted from the Spanish second division and when Tony Kroos hit a shot into the side-netting after nine minutes, it looked as if it indeed was going to be a stroll.

Gareth Bale saw a shot saved by Osasuna keeper Nauzet but Madrid appeared to relax as the half progressed and had a massive let off when Unai Garcia smacked a header against Kiko Casilla's crossbar when totally unmarked in the 39th minute.

That was to prove a costly miss as in the next move Madrid doubled their lead as Danilo fired through a crowd of players to make it 2-0 and Sergio Ramos added a third with a powerful header on the stroke of halftime.

With a Champions League game at home to Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday and a comfortable lead, Real Madrid had little need to force the pace on a hot afternoon, but Pepe added a fourth in the 55th minute with a strong header and Modric made it 5-0 seven minutes later with a curling shot.

Oriol Riera then scored a fine header to give Osasuna a consolation goal before Ronaldo was replaced by Karim Benzema, who also made his debut for the season.

Osasuna then had a second goal ruled out when the referee decided to give a penalty for a foul on Sergio Ramos when Oier had the ball in the net. Roberto Torres then saw his spot-kick saved by Casilla, although David Lopez provided some consolation when he scored Osasuna's second with another good header. Endit