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| Sunday, 01 April 2012 00:36 |
Ronaldo on fire as Real thrash OsasunaTwo goals and two assists for Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals and added another two assists to help Real Madrid cruise to an easy road win over sixth placed Osasuna in a La Liga clash at the Estadio El Sadar.
Jose Mourinho’s men finished a difficult month of March knowing that April looks even more daunting, with away matches to Atletico Madrid and Barcelona being the highlights, plus a likely match up with Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Los Merengues wasted little time making their intentions known, and were ahead in only the 7th minute of play. Cristiano Ronaldo showed his marker a clean pair of heels to get free down the left and his cross was met with a stunning volley from Karim Benzema to open the scoring. The visitors were somewhat lackadaisical in their approach for much of the remainder of the opening half and created few chances until Cristiano Ronaldo popped up to score another phenomenal goal. Ronaldo stunnerThe Portuguese superstar received the ball on the left 25 yards from goal and unleashed a scorching drive that flew in past keeper Andres Fernandez at his near post. Three minutes later, Gonazalo Higuain increased Madrid’s lead to 3-0 following good work from Esteban Granero. The Argentinian striker did well to chip the onrushing Fernandes for his 24th goal of the season in all competitions.Heading into the break it looked as if Madrid were going to run away with the game, but Osasuna pulled a goal back three minutes after the restart. Roversio broke free down the right and delivered a fine cross that was met with a thundering header from Nino. Unfortunately for the home crowd, it was to be the only positive of the evening. Ronaldo restored Madrid’s three-goal advantage in the 70th minute when his free kick took a deflection and wrong footed Fernandez. It was Ronaldo’s 37th goal in La Liga this season, only three behind his record setting total from last season and his 47th goal in all competitions this year.
Higuain put the finishing touches on another dominant performance from Madrid by converting Ronaldo’s pinpoint cross from close range in the 77th minute. To add insult to injury, Lamah was sent off for dissent in the dying moments of the game, capping a miserable evening for the hosts. |
I believe Cristiano is the best player in the world.
I've always praised his training and pointed out how his former teammates and managers always have great things to say about him. Not one negative.
just today an interview has come out where Ibra (AC Milan) said Messi is a talent, but Cristiano is the product of training and hard work. For me that's a compliment and praise.
By the way, I am Portuguese. Born in Lisboa.
Your comments are more foolish than anyone elses.
What an insult.
Matt go on YouTube and pull up the documentary on Cristiano. It's under the Castro Oil performance-Cristiano. Pretty amazing stuff.
And yes, him working hard does provide a lot of excuse.
His whole game was amazing, the dribble to beat the defender on the first goal and then the perfect cross to Benzema topped of by Benz' OUTRAGEOUS volley was incredible! Then Ronaldo's other assist came from his great dribble past his defender again and another pin point perfect cross, for Higuain to finish with a sweet header! The whole Real Madrid team is in great great form right now so I'm really happy for them! Coming to this part of the season is the perfect time to be in this scintillating form! @Monah/Paris relax dude, Higuain is a brilliant striker, and thats what you want in strikers to have a bit of selfishness. He could have passed for Ronaldo but he DIDN'T have to. Higuain is a world class player himself and his chips like he scored yesterday are a joy to watch! I love it how Higuain does those chips! He's a specialist in that! It was a great goal! Higuain and Benz have both been scoring all the time too, so just enjoy it when they score. Ronaldo is still leading the Pichichi race with 37 goals, Messi has 36. Forget about what Barca do, yes they always give the last ball to Messi to finish, but that great advantage that Real has, is that you want to have multiple goal scorers in form! So that defenders have more trouble stopping your team!
Right now Real Madrid has 3 top scorers Ronaldo, Higuain, and Benzema, whereas Barca only has one in Messi. It is far greater to have a bunch of top goal scorers than just rely on one person. So I'm always happy for Benzema and Higuain to score! Look at the stats, Real has 3 of the top 5 goal scorers in La Liga, Ronaldo 1st, Higuain 3rd, and Benzema 5th. And in the assists chart Real have the top 3 assisters in La Liga Ozil 1st, Di Maria 2nd, and Ronaldo 3rd. So at the end of the day I'm very happy with Real because they have to me the most balanced team in the world!
@jon/usa yea I agree with you about Coentrao, his injuries this year have hampered him, but like you rightfully said in all the biggest games Mourinho has started Coentrao at left back. Thats something that I've been very happy about, because Coentrao is a better defender. In the past we've seen Marcelo's lack of defensive effort and positioning and concentration cost Madrid goals many times. So thats why I was really happy when Madrid signed Coentrao. And Mou has realized this. So when he needs a better defensive left back he plays Coentrao. The other thing though is that Marcelo is still a great left back and has progressed alot under Mourinho to the point where I believe Real have the two best left backs in the world. So I believe Marcelo is one of the best too. It was always going to be a case of having to rotate them because they both bring so much to the team albeit in different capacities. When Mourinho needs more attacking creativity and support he plays Marcelo. Coentrao is the better defender, but Marcelo is simply the better attacker! He is amazing in dribbling and attacking creativity! So much so that when he's helping the attack he's one of the main players for Real Madrid. Actually Mourinho was rotating them fairly evenly this season, but Coentrao's recent smoking incident sort of set him back a bit. But overall I think Marcelo has gotten slightly more games, but thats probably due to Coentrao's injuries as well. Coentrao is great but Marcelo is great as well, but Mourinho is always pretty much going to have to rotate them. Neither of them can be benched consistently. Rotation is the only thing that can be done. But I'm happy because I know that in the hardest biggest games where we need our best defense, I know Mourinho will pick Coentrao. Hopefully if he stays fit for a long time from now on, maybe he can get the slight majority of games ahead of Marcelo.
In real madrid higuain is helpin messi to get the pichichi!
I'll die if Ronaldo didn't get it this year too! He's number one! A full player!
Fabio Coentrao has struggled with injuries this season, and for much of the first half, he was utilized as a midfielder. However in the last few months, when fit, I noticed that Mourinho has started Coentrao at left back in all the big games against quality opposition since he's a better defender than Marcelo. Hopefully he'll get more playing time against the minnows of La Liga because he is much more than a solid defender.