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16.03.2013 » Real Madrid 5-2 Mallorca. A six minutes offensive storm was enough
Real Madrid extended their winning streak to 7 games, after defeating Mallorca by 5-2 at the Santiago Bernabéu. José Mourinho approached this game making a few experiences on the line-up, but the team didn't react as expected and were trailing by one at half-time. With a couple of substitutions right after the break, Real Madrid found his best form in a short matter of time and turned the game into their favor in only 6 minutes, with goals from Ronaldo, Modric and Higuaín. Mallorca were not able to upset the Merengues anymore from that point onwards, meaning that Real Madrid will go through the upcoming 2-weeks break maintaining their winning mentality well alive. The next fixture is scheduled for March 30, an away league game against Zaragoza, just four days before the UEFA Champions League first leg clash against Galatasaray, on April 3.
Cristiano Ronaldo photos in Real Madrid vs Mallorca
Real Madrid 5-2 Mallorca goals and highlights:
Mallorca kicked off this game at the Santiago Bernabéu pretty much winning already, as they reached the opening goal with only 6 minutes played in the Spanish capital. An apparently harmless throw-in on the left allowed the former Barcelona and Totttenham player, Giovani dos Santos, to quickly escape Arbeloa's marking and put in a long cross into the heart of the penalty area. Emilio Nsue was already well positioned and headed it brilliantly into the low corner of Diego López goal. Mallorca had gotten the early lead and Real Madrid started trailing once again this season...
A first glimpse of a reaction came on roughly 10 minutes later, with Luka Modric leading the charge. The Croatian, who would end up being one of the best players on the pitch, made a great through pass to Pepe, who then managed to keep his balance in front of Mallorca's goalkeeper, just until he layed the ball off to Gonzalo Higuaín, for an easy empty net goal. The draw was restored but Mallorca still had a few more tricks up their sleeves about to revealed.
Real Madrid's defensive mistakes have been piling up this season and it is no secret to anyone that one of the biggest weaknesses from the Spanish champions remains being the set-pieces defense. With that in mind, it comes natural that if Mallorca were to score again, the likelihood that it would happen from a free-kick or a corner kick was quite high. That's precisely what ended up happening as Mallorca regained the lead in the 21st minute, when Alejandro Alfaro headed the ball to the back of the net, following a corner-kick taken by the Mexican star, Giovani dos Santos.
Mourinho didn't like what he was seeing, but he didn't change anything until the break arrived. Real Madrid went back to the locker rooms trailing 1-2, but everyone knew a strong reaction was to be expected as the game was about to kickoff for the second half. Mesut Ozil and Karim Benzema stepped in, replacing Álvaro Morata and Arbeloa, in a clear sign that the Merengues were about to charge forward immediately. And so it was, as the equaliser was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo on the 51st minute, in a superb header from a Mesut Ozil corner kick. The Portuguese reached his 43rd goal of the season (27 in La Liga) and proved once again that even when he can't play as well as he has used us to, he still finds ways to score and leave his mark in the game.
Normality was restored in the 54th minute, this time with a powerful long-range strike from Luka Modric, that left no chance at all for Mallorca's goalkeeper to even get his fingers on the ball. The Croatian seems to finally be playing with the confidence levels he neded in order to show the class and quality he has displayed in the English Premier League over the past seasons, and that's surely good news for Real Madrid, especially now as we are about to enter such an important stage of the season.
The Merengues wouldn't hit the brake right away and the fourth goal would arrive in the 57th minute, from the feet of Gonzalo Higuaín. Similar to had happened in the first goal, the Argentinian deserves the credit for being well positioned but most of the work this time was done by Mesut Ozil, who assisted his teammate for another easy empty net goal. The German midfielder had just added a second assist to his stats, after being on the pitch for only 12 minutes.
With a two goal lead, Real Madrid slowed down the pace of the game for the remaining minutes and the fifth goal would only arrive close to the final whistle. As the second minute of added time was being played, Xabi Alonso (who had joined the game shortly after the fourth goal), found Gonzalo Higuaín escaping into the back of Mallorca's defensive line, and set him up with a great through-pass. The Argentinian showed his unselfishness attitude and assisted Karim Benzema in the middle, who only needed to tap-in the ball into an empty net. 5-2 on the scoreboard and Real Madrid will go into the next 2-weeks break knowing their job has been done quite well. Action will return on March 30, with Real Madrid visiting Zaragoza for an away La Liga fixture, but until then, most of the Merengues players will join their National Teams to play a couple matches for the Brazil's 2014 World Cup qualifying stage.
Real Madrid line-up vs Mallorca:
Goalkeeper: Diego López
Defenders: Fábio Coentrão, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Arbeloa
Midfielders: Pepe, Modric, Kaká
Attackers: Morata, Cristiano Ronaldo and Higuaín
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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|---|---|---|
Real Madrid
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vs
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Mallorca
|
5 |
Goals |
2 |
24 |
Shots |
15 |
14 |
Shots on goal |
5 |
11 |
Corner kicks |
4 |
9 |
Fouls commited |
11 |
0 |
Yellow cards |
1 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
69% |
Ball possession |
31% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Real Madrid will be against Real Zaragoza, on March 30, 2013, for the Spanish League. In the meanwhile, Ronaldo will join the Portuguese National Team, in order to start preparing the match against Israel, scheduled next Friday (March 22). You can watch Juventus live stream, Israel vs Portugal, Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano, Chelsea vs West Ham and Tottenham vs Fulham, all matches provided from our football live streaming section.
Portugal next game:
Israel vs Portugal kick-off time (22-03-2013):
Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+8: 19:45
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+2: 13:45
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+1: 12:45
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-1: 10:45
New York (United States) | GMT-4: 07:45
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-7: 04:45
Beijing (China) | GMT-7: 04:45
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / sportinglife.com / yahoo.com / goal.com
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