Real Madrid trounce Galaxy 5-1
Posted on August 4, 2012, Saturday
BICYCLE KICK: Ronaldo (right) attempts a bicycle kick against Rafael Garcia and Andrew Boyens (left) of Los Angeles Galaxy during the World Football Challenge at The Home Depot Centre in Carson, California. — AFP photo
LOS ANGELES: Real Madrid opened their four-game tour of the US by routing Major League Soccer champions Los Angeles Galaxy 5-1 in an exhibition match Thursday at the Home Depot Centre stadium.
Real Madrid scored three times in the first half and twice in the second in the one-sided contest in front of a record Home Depot crowd of 30,317.
The score could have been much higher as Real Madrid consistently broke through the hapless Galaxy defence but were unable to convert many of their scoring opportunities.
The Spanish champions started the game with several of their biggest names on the bench, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Mesut Ozil. They all came on in the second half but by then the outcome was already decided.
Angel Di Maria assisted on Gonzalo Higuain’s opening goal after just 85 seconds.
Di Maria made it 2-0 nine minutes later for Real Madrid. Other scorers were Jose Maria Callejon in the 36th minute, Alvaro Morata four minutes into the second half and Alex Fernandez late in the game.
Real Madrid’s tour continues with games Sunday against Mexican champions Santos Laguna in Las Vegas and Wednesday against Italy’s AC Milan at Yankee Stadium.
They wrap up the tour against Scottish champions Celtic in Philadelphia on Aug 11.
David Junior Lopes scored the Galaxy’s only goal in the 23rd minute by converting a Omar Gonzalez header.
The play started with a David Beckham free kick. Real begin the Spanish season on Aug 18.
Real Madrid wasted no time getting on the board as Higuain and Di Maria made it 2-0 in the 11th minute.
Di Maria made a nice cut and fired a shot through the legs of Galaxy defender Bryan Gaul that beat goalkeeper Josh Saunders.
Saunders was under fire so often in the first half that he took his frustrations out on his teammates, yelling at them for allowing Real Madrid so many scoring chances.
The Galaxy pulled their top stars, Beckham, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, out of the game in the second half as it became clear their side was headed for defeat.
Callejon finished off a nice passing play to make it 3-1 in the 40th minute and Alvaro Morata scored four minutes into the second half from an Esteban Granero chip. — AFP
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