Madrid: Real Madrid have bounced back from its Champions League loss at Borussia Dortmund by strolling to a 5-0 win at Mallorca, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain each collecting two goals to help their team stay within eight points of the co-leaders in fourth place.
Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was missing midfielder Sami Khedira and defenders Alvaro Arbeloa, Marcelo and Fabio Coentrao to injury. But any worries for Madrid's backline were ill-founded. The defending champions' area was rarely encroached upon and their attack soon put the result beyond doubt.
"The result is a little deceptive," said Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. "It was a good game for our forwards, but the entire team deserves credit for the win, We have to continue winning points because we let some slip at the start of the season."
Higuain grabbed Madrid's opener eight minutes in when he took full advantage of Anderson Conceicao's horrible control of a harmless pass that left the Argentina striker in position to freely fire home. Madrid's pressure produced the second goal in the 22nd. Angel di Maria forced Andreu Fontas into losing the ball, and Higuain tapped on Di Maria's pass to Ronaldo, who slotted the ball just inside the far post.
Madrid cruised through a sleepy second half until Higuain and Ronaldo each struck again. The Portugal forward set up Higuain in the 70th and three minutes later raced behind Mallorca's flat-footed defense to latch onto Luka Modric's pass and score his 18th goal in all competitions. Substitute Jose Callejon added another goal in injury time as Madrid matched Barcelona's 5-0 win at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
Comments
0 comment