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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