Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez has praised Cristiano Ronaldo after the forward became Real Madrid's all-time leading goal scorer in La Liga by netting five at Espanyol on Saturday.
Ronaldo, 30, went into Saturday's league game having not scored in his first four club and country outings of 2015-16, with the local media speaking of the Portugal international suffering a drought.
A five-goal haul in Madrid's 6-0 win ended that talk, with Ronaldo also laying on his team's other goal for teammate Karim Benzema.
Ronaldo now has 231 goals in 203 La Liga appearances for Los Blancos, having passed the club's previous domestic league record scorer Raul Gonzalez -- who took 550 games to score his 228.
Madrid manager Benitez praised Ronaldo's record at his postgame news conference, telling reporters: "The numbers speak for themselves. [Ronaldo] has his place in history. I hope he keeps adding to this goals tally. Cristiano will always be up there with [Blancos legend Alfredo] Di Stefano and Raul."
Pressed for more comment on Ronaldo's achievement, the former Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea and Napoli coach highlighted the performance of his whole team, but also said he had also seen things which could be improved upon.
"I really like to talk about the team when you win a game like this, and you must highlight all the goals -- including Cristiano Ronaldo's five," Benitez said. "There will always be things to improve, which is what we have to do.
"We played a good game, we had power up front, and there are things to still polish. Espanyol did many things well, but we had that attacking power. It is a spectacular result, away from home, but there are still things we can improve, I can say that without vanity."
A third consecutive clean sheet of the season for Madrid was kept with goalkeeper Keylor Navas making a number of impressive stops.
The win was the Costa Rica international's first game since come close to joining Manchester United last month on a transfer deadline day in a deal which would have seen David De Gea -- who has signed a new United contact -- moving to the Bernabeu.
Asked about Navas' performance, Benitez said: "Logically the objective was to win the game, and to score more goals than the opponents. We had to do well to help out so that Keylor could beat this record."
Gareth Bale was also to the fore throughout the game, playing a key role in four of his team's goals while again playing in the No. 10 position.
Benitez did not mention the Wales international by name but did say he had been impressed by his attacking stars had combined during the game, adding: "The forwards have freedom of movement, and intelligent movement has been key. We have ended up taking advantage of that."