Jose Mourinho decided to field a few players who don't usually get their chances while making sure that he still had a pretty strong team ready to play and win. The starting lineup was: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Pepe, Marcelo, Nuri Sahin, Esteban Granero, Kaka, Hamit Altintop, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Gonzalo Higuain.
It took a while for the opening goal but, after 26 minutes, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who scored after a tap-in to make it 1-0 to the hosts. 11 minutes later, on the 37th minute, it was Kaka who scored a wonderful goal for yards out to make it 2-0. Real Madrid weren't playing for a draw, they wanted to win this...
As the second half started, APOEL knew that any very minor hopes of winning were gone and they were just playing for the sake of playing. But that didn't mean that they won't try to score as Gustavo Manduca finished off a great play to score APOEL Nicosia's first ever Champions League Quarter Final goal. Cristiano Ronaldo then was able to make it 3-1 on the 75th minute.
Jose Callejon, who came as a substitute having recently returned from a minor injury, scored a great goal to increase Real Madrid's lead and make it 4-1. A minute later, Hamit Altintop awarded APOEL a penalty which was scored by Esteban Andres Solari on the 82nd minute.
Another man who also returned from injury was Angel Di Maria and he showed that he was ready to play as he scored a beautiful chip on the 84th minute to end the game 5-2 to Real Madrid.
It was really a wonderful game for the neutrals and it was great to see Real Madrid playing without any pressure and being able to rest a few of their players and giving a chance to the fringe players at the club. But now the biggest test so far awaits, a semi-final against Bayern Munich.
Best Real Madrid Player: Kaka
Worst Real Madrid Player: Hamit Altintop
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINALS:
APRIL 17: Bayern Munich VS Real Madrid
APRIL 18: Chelsea VS Barcelona
APRIL 24: Barcelona VS Chelsea
APRIL 25: Real Madrid VS Bayern Munich
1 comment:
If it wasn't for my sprained ankle, I would have enjoyed that match to the fullest!!! But it was great indeed, so happy to see Cristiano scoring freekicks again, and the goals were really beautiful --again. Let's hope we can keep it up this weekend and in our upcoming matches, this is the final stretch, and since we're in such a good position, it's really exciting!
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