Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace to power Real Madrid past 10-men Espanyol on Saturday night at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
Following the opener from Gareth Bale, the Portuguese scored in each half to help Los Blancos rebound from the midweek loss at Espanyol and send them into their crucial Champions League clash at Paris Saint-Germain on a winning note.
In particular the performance of Ronaldo will have manager Zinedine Zidane feeling considerably confident about his team’s chances of defending their 3-1 aggregate lead on Tuesday. Ronaldo could have easily had another couple of goals and is clearly enjoying a good run of form.
Zidane made five changes from the team that fell midweek at Espanyol. Out went Achraf, Raphael Varane, Mateo Kovacic, Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio and into the team came Dani Carvajal, Theo, Casemiro, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, meaning a return of the BBC.
It took Real a little bit to get going, but once Bale broke the deadlock right around the midway mark of the half, Los Blancos were off and running. A ball floated in by Benzema was poorly handled by the Getafe defence, and a deflection off Sergio Ramos’ backside bounced straight to the Welshman, who slotted in a left-footer to hand Real a 1-0 lead.
The home side continued pushing for a second before the break and Carvajal fancied a shot from outside that just went wide of the post. Instead, it had to be Ronaldo who would give Real that two-goal edge before half-time when he collected a pass from Benzema, made a move to his left past two Getafe defenders and fired in for the 2-0 lead.
Getafe made life even more difficult for themselves at the start of the second-half when Loic Remy was sent off with his second yellow card after a rash challenge on Nacho.
Oddly enough though, Getafe played their best football following the Frenchman’s sending off, and the inclusion of Jorge Molina off the bench gave an impetus to the Getafe attack. The former Betis man earned a penalty kick after the hour mark when he was brought down from behind by Nacho, and Portillo converted the spot kick to cut the Real lead to 2-1.
Replays showed that Nacho had actually gotten the ball and not Molina, but referee Melero Lopez was steadfast in his decision, even though he did not issue a second yellow card to Nacho. A minute later Real felt like they were once again on the wrong end of a refereeing decision when a Ronaldo goal was disallowed due to an offside, even though the Portuguese was played onside by Djene.
Real looked to respond and Ronaldo was all set to score his second off a cross from the right but Getafe goalkeeper Emi made a sensational save from point-blank range to keep it a one-goal affair.
Marcelo’s entrance into the match boosted the Real attack and a third seemed like a question of time. After being foiled by Emi earlier, Ronaldo made good on his next attempt when he spun a header in past the Getafe stopper off a cross from Marcelo to make it a 3-1 Real lead.
Zidane’s men were keen to get one more before the final whistle and Bale almost complied, but his stinging left-footer grazed the far post in what was the final chance of the contest.
Match Sheet:
3.- Real Madrid: Keylor; Carvajal, Nacho, Ramos, Theo (Marcelo, min. 65); Casemiro, Llorente (Kovacic, min. 80), Isco; Bale, Benzema, Cristiano (Asensio, min. 80).
1.- Getafe: Emi; Damian, Djene, Bruno, Antunes; Arambarri, Sergio Mora (Shibasaki, min. 59); Portillo (Pacheco, min. 86), Fajr, Remy; Angel (Jorge Molina, min. 56).
Goals: 1-0, min. 24: Bale; 2-0, min. 45+1: Ronaldo; 2-1, min. 66: Portillo (p); 3-1, min. 77: Ronaldo.
Referee: Melero Lopez (Andalusian).
Yellow cards: Remy (Min. 26) for Getafe, Nacho (Min. 34) for Real Madrid, Remy (Min. 47) for Getafe, Portillo (Min. 52) for Getafe.
Red cards: Remy (Min. 47) for Getafe.
Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu.
Attendance: 70.000.
