Benzema hails ´phenomenal´ Ronaldo

Karim Benzema hailed Cristiano Ronaldo’s “phenomenal” talent after the Real Madrid forward produced a stunning five-goal salvo in Sunday’s 9-1 demolition over Granada.

Having opened his account after half an hour, Ronaldo went on to record an eight-minute hat-trick before completing the rout in the closing minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu.

His haul saw him reach 300 goals after just 287 games for Real, and Benzema – who scored twice against Granada himself – was full of praise for his strike partner.

“Ronaldo is simply phenomenal because he’s always there for the team,” said the France international.

“I’m really pleased for him because he deserves it. We both feel great right now as we’ve helped the team. Sometimes we score and sometimes we don’t, but we always try to play our part.

“This was great after being beaten by Barcelona [before the international break] and was good for all of us. For me the win and three points were the most important thing, although it’s true you don’t score nine goals in every game.

“Even so, we just tried to entertain the fans.”