Ronaldo hits hat-trick as Real Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao

Cristiano Ronaldo hit another hat-trick for Real Madrid in their 5-0 rout of Athletic Bilbao.

Ronaldo, who had been an injury doubt prior to the match, opened the scoring with a header on two minutes before Karim Benzema's 41st-minute nodded effort made it 2-0.

The Portugal forward then slotted in a cross from Gareth Bale - who had also teed up his first of the evening - in the 55th minute, and subsequently set up a simple Benzema finish in the 69th.

World player of the year Ronaldo capped another impressive display by completing his treble two minutes from time, taking his tally for the season to 17 goals.

Real have now won six matches in a row in all competitions - during which they have scored 27 times - after back-to-back defeats earlier in the campaign.

And they have leapfrogged defending champions Atletico Madrid to assume fourth place in the table, once again trailing leaders Barcelona by four points.

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti beamed: "It was undoubtedly the best match since the final of the European Super Cup in Cardiff. I think the team look good. We are playing much better than at this time last year. We’re on a good run. We were more alert on set-pieces today and everything went well."

"It was a very good match, we’re all very happy because we played as we always want to play. Everything went well in attack and defence. The whole team had a good match."