Wednesday 3 April 2013

Real Madrid Cruise to a 3-0 win over Galatasaray in Champions League Quarter-Final

Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid have put themselves in great position for the Champions League semi-finals after a 3-0 win over Galatasaray at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of their quarter-final clash. Madrid seldom looked in any real danger by the Galatasaray attack and was two goals up before the half-hour mark through Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. The match was put away by a second-half header from substitute Gonzalo Higuain which made the win for Madrid a greater deficit for Galatasaray ahead of next week's second leg in Istanbul.
Galatasaray started off the match reasonably well, with their squad suggesting an aggressive attacking formation with Wesley Sneijder, Hamit Altintop and Selcuk Inan all pushing forward to try and join Didier Drogba and Burak Yilmaz. At the nine minute mark the deadlock was broken flowing Mesut Ozil thru ball sending Ronaldo free down the left hand side as he chipped the ball over Fernando Muslera in clinical fashion.
Madrid's continued pressure in the second half lead to Real extending their advantage as Xabi Alonso curled a free-kick into the box that Higuain headed into the corner to score. Galatasaray did have a late call for a penalty denied when Sergio Ramos stepped on Yilmaz's foot but the striker was booked for embellishment instead. Ramos later picked up a strategic booking that ruled him out of the second-leg when he kicked the ball away with just minutes left leaving him eligible for the semi-finals with no yellow card accumulation. 
Another real positive from Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League quarter-finals was the fact that this was their first clean sheet in the competition. 

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