Home   >   MOTDs   >   MOTD- Real Madrid 3-0 Galatasaray

MOTD- Real Madrid 3-0 Galatasaray

By on April 4, 2013

Real Madrid have pretty much rapped up their tie against Galatasaray, with Madrid earning a good 3-0 win and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring for the fourth Champions League match in a row. The game started lively, with Karim Benzema heading just wide from an Angel Di Maria cross in the opening seconds of the match. Amazingly, Los Blancos were up nine minutes into the match when Mesut Ozil played a neat one-two with Benzema before releasing Cristiano Ronaldo in on goal down the center. Ronaldo took the ball up to Gala goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, and cheekily chipped the ball over the goalkeeper. The shot flew into the back of the net, with the winger scoring his ninth goal in this seasons Champions League. Gala almost grabbed an equalizer in the thirteenth minute when Burak Yilmaz  cleverly ran over a pass to let it run on to Didier Drogba. Drogba shook off Raphael Varane, but instead of taking the ball into the box powers a left-footed shot over the bar.

The match was incredibly open, with Ozil forcing Muslera into a good save with a low shot from the edge of the box in the eighteenth minute. Gala soon got another chance, with Drogba hitting a swerving effort on goal from thirty yards out in the twenty-sixth minute, forcing Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez to punch the ball away. Right before the half-hour mark Madrid doubled their lead, when Essien swung a deep cross into the box. Ronaldo just missed he header, and the ball fell to Benzema at the back post. Benzema took the ball out of the air, before slamming a shot into the back of the net. Gala did well to react to the goal, with Emmanuel Eboue driving a low shot on goal that Lopez had to deflect with his feet after Drogba had played Eboue in on goal down the right.  However, Gala could not equalize before halftime, with Madrid up 2-0.

The second half started much slower, and with a quarter of an hour gone by, there had yet to be a good chance.  Finally, Madrid took a chance, with Ronaldo blasting a hot straight at Muslera from twenty-five yards.  Gala seemed like they would take the 2-0 loss, but in the seventy-sixth minute Madrid grabbed a third goal to put the tie away.  Xabi Alonso curled in a free-kick from the left, and substitute Gonzalo Higuain took advantage of Gala’ poor marking, glancing a header to the near post from the center of the box.  Muslera couldn’t stop it, and the shot flew into the back of the net.  Real looked as if they could score again, with Luka Modric testing Muslera from range.  With ten minutes left on the clock Gala started to come back into the match, but after Selcuk Inan and YIlmaz’s well hit shots from outside the area were saved by Lopez, Gala lost their energy.  Madrid played out the remaining minutes in control, with the tie looking rapped up despite a second leg to be played in Istanbul.
Man of the Match:  Cristiano Ronaldo

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.