18 September 2013

The Elusive La Decima

Last night’s curtain opener for the 2013 Champions League season has produced a remarkable number of goals and I believe it broke the record of goals scored by teams with 30 goals in one night of matches. And it was the Merengues and CRon who leads the pack as they hammered Galatasaray right in their own turf at the Turk Telekom Arena despite the hostility and dominance of the home side. And for the fact that history is not on Real Madrid’s side as they have lost in two occasions when they have played away against Galatasaray.
For the first 32 minutes, Galatasaray and the home crowd put the Los Blancos on the back foot with relentless pressure and testing Real’s defenders with so many opportunities on goal. It was even aggravated with Iker Casillas leaving the match with an injury on his rib that he sustained after colliding with Sergio Ramos. But if you cannot convert those opportunities at the back of the net especially against a team like Real Madrid then you’re going to suffer at the end. And that exactly what happened after 33 minutes when Isco delivered the first of Real Madrid’s 6 goals of the night.

From then on, Galatasaray seems struggling to impose their game plan after falling behind and it became worse when Drogba was pulled off after sustaining a shoulder injury. As if the Turkish Champions fighting spirit were drained when Benzema double Real’s lead and Ronaldo do the rest as he grabbed his 21st hat trick for Real and set up one more easy strike for Benzema. So with the score of 6-1 at the very first game of the competition, Real Madrid made a statement of intent to the rest of the team. But will that be enough to finally capture the elusive La Decima?

Image from corazonblanco.com

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