With Ricardo Carvalho, Jose Callejon, Lassana Diarra, Angel Di Maria and Xabi Alonso ruled out for the game, Jose Mourinho decided to change his team a little bit.
The starting lineup was Iker Casillas, Alvaro Arbeloa, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Fabio Coentrao, Sami Khedira, Nuri Sahin, Mesut Ozil, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain, and Karim Benzema.
The first half was actually pretty disappointing. Putting aside the fact that APOEL had no shots on goal, Real Madrid weren't able to score no matter what despite having about 75% of the possession. It ended 0-0 with Karim Benzema missing one of the easiest chances he will ever have.
The second half pretty much continued on the same page as the first 45 minutes until Kaka came in for Higuain and Marcelo for Coentrao. That is when things finally changed as Real Madrid were able to make it 3-0 in 15 minutes. Benzema scored on the 74th minute from an assist by Kaka, then Kaka got himself on the scoresheet after a great Marcelo assist on the 82nd minute, and Benzema scored again in the 90th minute after a pass by Mesut Ozil.
In the end, it was a great away win for the Whites and now they have a very comfortable lead to take into the second leg in Madrid.
Worst Real Madrid Player: Gonzalo Higuain
Best Real Madrid Player: Nuri Sahin/Kaka
OTHER SCORES OF THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAUGE:
Benfica 0-1 Chelsea
Marseille 0-2 Bayern Munich
AC Milan 0-0 Barcelona
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