Real Madrid (23' Cristiano, 38' Sami Khedira, 47', 78' Higuaín, 66' Kaká) 5 - 0 Espanyol
Real Madrid sought a tenth straight win in La Liga against
Espanyol at the Bernabéu. Twenty-one men were called up for duty, including Jesús
and Álvaro Morata from Castilla. Some of
the Whites had international duty this past week, which resulted in some
casualties and exemptions from making the cut for Espanyol, Portuguese
international Fábio Coentrão being one of them.
Others missing the match include Ángel Di Maria and Karim Benzema, due
to injury, and Pepe due to a 5-booking suspension. As for Espanyol, the Catalan side currently
ranks 9th in the tables and are having a very solid season. In spite of having lost the past 4 games, they
have proved to be quite the force to deal with on the road throughout the La
Liga campaign.
The 1st half began slowly, save for Gonzalo
"Pipita" Higuaín who was hungry for goal from the get go. It also seemed that the Argentine may have
forgotten a thing or two about being caught offside, linesmen's flags going up
in what felt like seconds of one another.
He just wanted to score is all... as did the rest of los Blancos. However, Espanyol's keeper Kiko Casilla –
talk about confusion throughout the match commentary – was intent on
saving. Truthfully, Casilla did a
wonderful job of holding Real Madrid at bay.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring at the 23' mark with a
beautiful left-footed shot to the bottom left corner, Higuaín at the
assist. Tonight's goal by Cristiano was
his 30th league goal. ¡Felicidades, Cristiano! Espanyol had its first real chance at the 37'
and came close to equalizing, but Iker Casillas saved in the center of the
goal. ¡Grande, Iker! Sami Khedira
earned Madrid's second a minute later at the 38' with a right-footed shot to
the bottom left corner, fellow German international Mesut Özil at the
assist. Two minutes were added, but
nothing came from it for either team.
Real Madrid led 2-nil going into descanso.
Los Blancos kicked
off the 2nd half with a bang, Higuaín finally getting that goal at
the 47' mark. The Argentine scored
Madrid's third of the evening with a beautiful left-footed shot from the centre
of the box to the top left corner, Kaká at the assist with a through ball. To return the favor, Higuaín provided the
assist 19 minutes later to the Brasilian's beautiful goal. Kaká made it 4-nil at the 66' with a
right-footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Twelve minutes later, Higuaín and Kaká paired up again, resulting in
RM's 5th goal of the evening.
And people say that Argentines and Brasilians can never work
well together...
Or maybe RM just makes things happens.
Or maybe RM just makes things happens.
Higuaín came close to a hattrick, but Casilla denied him the
opportunity right before he [Higuaín] was subbed off by Álvaro Morata. Wonderful evening from the Argentine
international, really, the Bernabéu up in applause for his performance...
Morata too received praise from the Bernabéu, his name
chanted throughout the stadium upon coming on pitch. The Castilla player came close to scoring,
but Casilla deflected his shot. And with
that, the match ended 5-0, Real Madrid enjoying a cleansheet.
The men play their next game Saturday, March 10th
against Betis in La Liga at the Benito Villamarin. Until then, ¡Hala Madrid!
written by Gail Hidalgo
Hala Madrid. Perfect way to start my week. We will take La Liga this year!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be premature about celebrations, but I do hope that the men can keep up what their doing and widen the gap in the tables! Hala Madrid!
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