02.10.2013 » Real Madrid 4-0 Copenhagen. Ronaldo and Di María shine at home
After last weekend's home loss against Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid players knew it was vital to give a good response to their fans straight away, especially with this next game being played at home. The Merengues hosted Copenhagen at the Bernabéu for their second fixture in the Champions League this Wednesday night and ran over the Danish side with a clear 4-0 win. Unsurprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo got to score another two goals, but he also saw his teammate Angel Di María performing at his very best by scoring a brace and assisting the Portuguese forward with a "rabona" pass for one of his goals. With this victory, Real Madrid remains on top of the Champions League Group B with 6 points, while Juventus is 2nd with 2, and Copenhagen and Galatasaray are 3rd and 4th respectively, with one point each.
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Real Madrid vs Copenhagen
Real Madrid 4-0 Copenhagen goals and highlights video:
This Wednesday, Ancelotti has finally been able to count with Raphael Varane and Marcelo in Real Madrid's defense, but the Italian manager has also brought in Iker Casillas as the starting goalkeeper and Carvajal to the right. As a consequence from that, Fábio Coentrão, Sergio Ramos, Diego Lopez and Arbeloa got dropped to the bench, but the changes seem to have paid off as Real Madrid managed to finish the game with a clean sheet, an achievement worth noticing as that's the first time they have done it since August 26, a date on which the Merengues pulled off a tough 0-1 away win for La Liga, against Granada.
Copenhagen visited the Bernabéu after having already surprised Juventus a couple weeks ago. The Danish champions held the Italian giants to a draw back at home, but certainly knew that the challenge they had ahead for this Wednesday night was far more difficult. Real Madrid manager couldn't count with Gareth Bale after seeing the Welshman being pulled off from the squad list yesterday due to an injury, but had on Angel Di María his perfect replacement, as the Argentinian ended up spurring his team for a convincing win.
The first goal of the match arrived almost in the mid-point of the first half and it got scored by the inevitable Cristiano Ronaldo. Marcelo sent in a long cross to the far post and the Real Madrid forward jumped without any opposition to head the ball into the back of the net. Copenhagen's goalkeeper failed to intercept the cross and Ronaldo's task got immediately facilitated as he only had to hit the target from that point onwards. Scoring the first goal against teams who come out to the Bernabéu to play with extremely defensive strategies is usually the hardest part, but we can't really say that things became a lot easier right after that CR7 opener.
The second goal of the night was a pure masterpiece to say the least. It all went down in the 65th minute, when Karim Benzema released a backheel pass to Angel Di María, so that the Argentinian could get into the back of Copenhagen's defense and find enough space to make a cross. Then came the true brilliant moment, as Di María's preferred to make the cross by doing a rabona instead of using his right-foot, a quite rare technique detail as we're a lot more used to see a player simply crossing with his right-foot when he runs down the right wing. Di María masters the rabona technique probably like no one else in the game and his cross went perfectly directed to Cristiano Ronaldo, who had just anticipated a Copenhagen defender in order to gain position to score from his second header of the night.
The game got settled for good at that moment and from that point onwards Copenhagen's priority simply became to avoid conceding any more goals. However and only 5 minutes later, Real Madrid extended their lead into a 3-goal advantage, after Angel Di María scored his first goal of the season. The Argentinian keeps insisting on showing Ancelotti what he's missing when he doesn't play him and he took on a Copenhagen defender slightly on the right, cutted inside and then struck the ball to the far post. Wiland still stretched as he attempted to reach the ball, but he simply couldn't stop the Argentinian's strong shot, as Real Madrid had just gone 3 goals up.
As we had just entered injury time, Alvaro Morata managed to intercept a pass from Copenhagen's defenders in a very dangerous zone and his touch made the ball to fall into Angel Di María's feet. The Argentinian didn't lose much time thinking and after leaving an opponent on the ground he easily beat Wiland with a left-foot shot, setting the final result in 4-0 for Real Madrid. With this victory, the Merengues are still leading Group B and are also the competition's most effective attack, with 10 goals scored in only 2 games. Ronaldo leads the top goalscorers standings with 5 goals, two more than Barcelona's Lionel Messi who comes in 2nd.
Next weekend Real Madrid will travel to Valencia to face Levante. It will be forbidden to drop any more points as any negative result coming off this Levante vs Real Madrid game will allow to both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to extend their advantage beyond the current 5-point gap. If Gareth Bale doesn't get ruled out for this next game because of his left thigh injury, Carlo Ancelotti is sure to have a big dilemma on his hands. Should he bench Angel Di María after the Argentinian's brilliant performance in mid-week, or should he leave Bale out of the starting eleven in a clear sign that his 91-million euro price tag single-handedly won't get him a spot in the line-up.
Real Madrid line-up vs Copenhagen:
Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas
Defenders: Marcelo, Pepe, Varane, Carvajal
Midfielders: Illarramendi, Khedira, Modric
Attackers: Angel Di María, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
|
||
|---|---|---|
Real Madrid
|
vs
|
Copenhagen
|
4 |
Goals |
0 |
24 |
Shots |
8 |
7 |
Shots on goal |
4 |
6 |
Corner kicks |
4 |
12 |
Fouls commited |
14 |
1 |
Yellow cards |
2 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
61% |
Ball possession |
39% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Real Madrid will be for La Liga, this next Saturday (October 5, 2013), against Levante. You can watch Juventus live stream, Levante vs Real Madrid, Barcelona vs Valladolid, Sunderland vs Manchester United and Liverpool vs Crystal Palace, all matches provided from our soccer live section.
Real Madrid next game:
Levante vs Real Madrid kick-off time (05-10-2013):
Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 01:00
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+2: 20:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+1: 19:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-3: 15:00
New York (United States) | GMT-4: 14:00
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-7: 11:00
Beijing (China) | GMT+8: 02:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / goal.com
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