Real Madrid Cruising Along without Ronaldo

Even after the suspension of hitman Ronaldo, Real Madrid still won, 4-1, against a promising Real Sociedad.

In any match, just the mention of Real Madrid is enough to predict the winner. Such is the dominance of the club's worldwide reputation.

Los Blancos are known for having a star-studded team, but they were missing their brightest light -- Cristiano Ronaldo -- because of this:

Instead of waiting for the hockey fans reading this to stop laughing, we'll continue. They can catch up at their leisure.

The match started horribly for the Galacticos. Gorka Elustondo did his best Fernando Torres impression by getting his club on the board in the first minute:

Unfortunately for David Moyes' side, there were 89 minutes remaining.

So Real Madrid took a tip from Dr Evil:

In Los Blancos case, doing what they always do means counter-attacks, and they got into that mode quickly. Like in the third minute.

Nice timing by James Rodríguez to stay onside:

One header matched by the other.

Then the goals just kept on coming. Here's Sergio Ramos in the 37th minute, going overland instead of by air:

Then, French international Karim Benzema picked up a gimme to open the second-half scoring:

Then again, give credit where credit is due. When humans are involved, nothing is a gimme:

The Frenchman was not satisfied with a tap-in, though, so he figured to give more value for money in the 76th minute:

That sufficed. What should we call it, a bending rocket? Simply amazing by the Blancos front man.

Clearly, Ronaldo's absence didn't haunt the side, but instead focused the spotlight elsewhere in the Galacticos' heavens.

Real have one more match to endure without him. They'll manage.