The Portugese's first goal of his brace just after half an hour gave him a century of goals in the Spanish top flight after only 92 games, making him the fastest player to reach that landmark in the capital outfit's history.
Gonzalo Higuain's early opener and a brace from Karim Benzema completed the rout for the home side, which, after drawing its last two league games, picks up a crucial win that brings its lead over Barcelona back to six points.
Xabi Prieto's strike minutes before halftime was nothing more than consolation, as the visiting side was well and truly beaten by a dominant Madrid outfit.
The absence of Jose Mourinho, suspended after being sent to the stands against Villarreal in midweek, did not faze the home side as it broke the deadlock after only six minutes. Benzema strode in down the right flank, and teed up Higuain for a sweeping finish from the top of the box that beat Claudio Bravo in the visitors’ goal.
Madrid, buoyed by the opener, began to push forward more in the Sociedad half in the quest for a second, with Ronaldo at the end of a pair of great chances. The Portugese first saw a stinging effort blocked by Bravo before sending a header wide from a position where he really should have hit the target.
However, Ronaldo was not to be denied, and with 33 minutes gone, he came up with the goods at the third time of asking, running on to Kaka’s through ball and placing his finish into the far corner.
The goal, his 100th in the league in 92 appearances, comfortably surpassed the longstanding club record of Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, who reached the landmark after 115 games.
It was one way traffic thereafter, and Benzema struck five minutes before the break, latching on to a superb long ball from Xabi Alonso to lob the onrushing Bravo with one touch to further increase the home side’s advantage.
However, Sociedad pulled a goal back almost immediately, with a long range strike from the left by Xabi Prieto taking a nick off the head of Sergio Ramos en route to the far corner.
It proved to be nothing more than consolation however, as within four minutes of the restart, Benzema took Sami Khedira’s pass into his stride before slotting into the corner to restore the home side's three-goal advantage.
In the 56th minute, Madrid found itself further in front. Higuain did the hard work, sprinting in from out wide and squaring to Ronaldo at the far post, where made no mistake to score his 35th league goal of the season, bringing him level with Lionel Messi in the race for the Pichichi trophy.
The visiting side was floored at this point, and spent the rest of the match playing for the final whistle as Madrid continued to control the game. Madrid went close again the 78th minute, Ronaldo picking out Fabio Coentrao in the area for a toe-poke that flew inches wide.
With the game nearing its conclusion, Higuain let fly with a powerful drive that Bravo did well to tip over, before Raphael Varane’s header from the resulting corner was cleared off the line as Ronaldo and company ran out comfortable winners.
Madrid re-opens its six point lead over Barcelona at the Primera Division summit with the win, and in the process, avoids dropping points for the third league game in a row. Sociedad meanwhile is 14th with 33 points.
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