Mourinho: Ronaldo hat-trick ´normal´

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has described Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick as a “normal” performance from the star playmaker.

Ronaldo scored his fifth hat-trick of the season as Real thrashed Sevilla 6-2 on Saturday, a result which sent Mourinho’s side to sole top spot on the La Liga table.

But despite the impressive nature of the Portuguese’s performance, Mourinho thought it was just par for the course.

“Cristiano’s performance for me is normal. It is normal to play as he has, to score the goals he has scored and help your team,” Mourinho said.

“It is also normal in the previous game that he didn’t score (against Barcelona).”

Despite having Pepe sent off in the first half, Madrid rarely looked troubled at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan against Sevilla, a fact which did not surprise Mourinho.

“I expected a win and become the leader alone,” said Mourinho. “The main thing was to win again and we succeeded against a difficult opponent.”

“If I said the other day we were league leaders, now I can say that we are leaders alone.”

“We have been very effective and better than the opponent, but the truth is that the result reflects the difference between the two teams. We deserved to win.”

Mourinho also paid tribute to the professionalism of winger Angel Di Maria, who mourned the death of his father-in-law earlier in the week and is due to return to Argentina.

“Di Maria is an example for everyone,” he said. “He was at a funeral in Argentina a few days ago and today was available to play and now returns to Argentina again to be with his family. He has a great soul.”