During the build up to this match, there was a lot of talk about it such as "Who's starting?"; "It will be great to see Ruud van Nistelrooy playing against us!"; "Manuel Pellegrini is coaching them now and they have really built up their team! This is going to be exciting!" ... All of that did not prepare us for what happened during the first 38 minutes of that game.
First of all, Julio Baptista was injured and therefore could not play in tonights game. But sure RvN is going to start! He didn't even play a minute on the pitch and even if he did, I doubt he would have made any major difference to the scorline. But names such as Santi Cazorla and Joaquin started and had a pretty good game overall.
Gonzalo Higuain opens the scoring after a great pass from Angel Di Maria on the 11th minute; Cristiano Ronaldo with a great finish after yet another great assist from Di Maria on the 24th minute; Ronaldo scores his brace on the 28th minute; then with a great finish due to very poor defending Ronaldo is able to score a great goal to finish his hat-trick on the 38th minute and makes it 4-0 before half-time!
We were ready to continue seeing some more great goals during the second half! Some of the predictions went from 1-0 or 3-1 to 5-1 or 7-0! But to add to the unexpected-ness of the game, Malaga came out strong! Attacking Real Madrid from every possible angle and very unlucky to end the game with no goals after hitting the crossbar twice and having most of their other shots either really close to the goal or saved by Iker Casillas who had an unbelievable game.
Coming out from the break, we were cocky and very complacent and, with the way that we were playing during the second 45 minutes, it wouldn't have really surprised me if the scoreline was 4-3 or even 5-4 to Malaga. They had a beautiful second half but the Whites really stopped trying anywhere close to how they were in the beginning and, for the future games, we really have to beware of that because it can really cost us!
Best Real Madrid Player: Iker Casillas
Worst Real Madrid Player: Kaka
OTHER GAMES OF THE NIGHT:
Racing Santander 0-1 Espanyol
Sporting Gijon 2-0 Grenada
Barcelona 0-0 Sevilla
Newcastle 1-0 Wigan
Liverpool 1-1 Norwich City
Wolves 2-2 Swansea City
Juventus 2-2 Genoa
Fiorentina 2-2 Catania
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