La Liga, Real Madrid vs Eibar: Match review

Rotations were a must for Carlo Ancelotti this time. With James Rodríguez and Toni Kroos suspended and Gareth Bale recovering from small problems on his foot, the Italian coach decided to start Jesé Rodríguez, Asier Illarramendi and Isco Alarcón upfront. Chicharito replaced Karim Benzema, and everything worked out just fine for Los Blancos.

Real Madrid were never required to do much in order to get the three points, as Eibar have been on a free fall since the Christmas break. Keylor Navas had a chance to start, but he wasn't even tested by the attackers. Eibar's mediocre game got to a point where Ramos and Varane were mainly focused on distributing the ball well. Chicharito and Illarramendi made the best of these minutes, especially the Mexican striker, who scored Real's second goal and was successfully involved on the team's play during the whole match.

Unluckily enough, Jesé continued to show some worrying signs on the pitch. The wonderkid was not comfortable on the right wing an tried to find his groove by switching positions constantly, but it did not work very well. Jesé's disappointing season after his recovery has been one of the main reasons behind Real Madrid's lack of depth. The coaching staff trusted him after his good performances during the 2013-2014 campaign, but he will need more time -- and playing chances -- to get confident with his knee. The brilliant goal he scored on the 85th minute to make it 3-0 will certainly help, but he needs to have a bigger impact on this team.

Considering Eibar's defensive approach, the game was almost finished when Cristiano Ronaldo scores his first goal off a free-kick in almost a year. Ronaldo had been trying to become a threat on these plays for months, and his work paid off thanks mainly to some help from Eibar's goalkeeper. Ten minutes later, Chicharito got in the scoresheet with a goal set up by Álvaro Arbeloa. Hernández's contribution and determination was impressive and he certanly deserved to score that goal.

The second half was very comfortable for a Real Madrid side that were already thinking on Tuesday's decisive Champions League clash against Atlético de Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti gave Pepe some minutes and took Ramos, Modric and Marcelo off. Cristiano Ronaldo played the full game in a decision that doesn't make much sense, but he will get to Tuesday's match in good form.

In any case, the last 45 minutes were a piece of cake for Real Madrid. The fans started to leave the Bernabéu in the 70th minute and that was just the ultimate proof of the important things to come early next week...