Friday, April 26, 2024

UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid 4 Copenhagen 0

SoccerNews in UEFA Champions League 2 Oct 2013

96 Views

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to take his UEFA Champions League tally to five for the season as Real Madrid beat Copenhagen 4-0.

Copenhagen have endured a disastrous start to their domestic season and never looked like picking up only their second ever away win in the Champions League as Ronaldo opened the scoring after 21 minutes at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

The Portugal star – who scored a hat-trick at Galatasaray on matchday one – added another in
00004000
the second half after a magnificent piece of skill from Angel Di Maria.

And Argentine winger Di Maria rounded off the win with a double of his own in the final 20 minutes to put Real in firm control of Group B with six points from two games.

The Spanish giants suffered a La Liga derby defeat to Atletico Madrid for the first time since 1999 last Saturday and manager Carlo Ancelotti responded by making five changes.

Fabio Coentrao, Sergio Ramos, Alvaro Arbeloa, Isco and Diego Lopez dropped to the bench as Marcelo, Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Luka Modric and Iker Casillas started, with the latter making his 129th Champions League appearance.

Copenhagen boss Stale Solbakken made three alterations from their own weekend defeat to Brondby, with Ragnar Sigurdsson, Rurik Gislason and Youssef Toutouh replacing Georg Margreitter, Cristian Bolanos and Fanendo Adi.

The visitors did a good job of keeping Real at bay in the opening stages, but the Spanish side eventually made the breakthrough in the 21st minute.

Marcelo’s deep cross evaded goalkeeper Johan Wiland, giving Ronaldo an easy headed finish at the back post for his first of the game.

Di Maria then wasted two great chances to double the lead and Copenhagen almost capitalised on the hosts’ profligacy.

Four minutes before the break Casillas failed to catch a corner, allowing Nicolai Jorgensen to head goalwards, but luckily for Real the ball hit the crossbar before dropping to Modric who cleared.

Ronaldo went close to getting his second in the 64th minute when his curling free-kick from the edge of the area landed on top of the net, but he was not to be denied a minute later.

Di Maria got to the byline to produce a cross with an outrageous piece of skill, and Ronaldo burst in front of his marker to head home again.

And with 19 minutes to play, Di Maria made amends for his first-half misses with a wonderful finish as he cut in from the right and hammered a shot past the helpless Wiland.

Real saw out the final stages with consummate ease and then scored a fourth for good measure.

Di Maria pounced on a loose ball, held off his marker before smashing a low effort into the bottom corner from just inside the area, rounding off an eye-catching display from Ancelotti’s men.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SoccerNews

Soccernews.com is news blog for soccer with comprehensive coverage of all the major leagues in Europe, as well as MLS in the United States. In addition we offer breaking news for transfers and transfer rumors, ticket sales, betting tips and offers, match previews, and in-depth editorials.

You can follow us on Facebook: Facebook.com/soccernews.com or Twitter: @soccernewsfeed.

SHARE OR COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

WE RECOMMEND

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This field is required *

Join the conversation!

or Register

More More
Top