Madrid , December 09 – Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score 10 goals or more in the group stage of the Champions League, claiming four as Real Madrid routed Malmo 8-0 on Tuesday.
Ronaldo reached 11 goals in six games ( a record in the group stage of Champions League), surpassing the nine scored by Luiz Adriano with Shakhtar Donetsk last season. Madrid secured the biggest margin of victory in the Champions League since Liverpool defeated Besiktas also by 8-0 in 2007.
Ronaldo scored 4 goals, Benzema netted a hattrick and Mateo kovacic provided the other goal as they demolished Swedish side Malmo 8-0. Real who already had qualified for the next stage had rested the likes of Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, and Gareth Bale. Benzema struck early twice to give the homeside a lead of 2-0. Ronaldo stretched the lead for the Madrid club on way to his hat-trick . He has now 88 goals in 121 games. Real, the record 10 times European champions , finished the group stages on 16 points along with Paris St Germain who already qualified for the last 16 . Mateo Kovacic made 7-0 for Real in the 70th minute and Benzema completed the rout in the 84th minutes. Ronaldo has struggled for goals in the La-liga this season having scored only 10 goals in 14 appearances but his performance in the Champions League has been spot on .The Portuguese now has 4 hat-tricks in competition , one lesser than Lionel Messi who has five.