 |
| Real Madrid players celebrate the victory |
Real Madrid wore red for the first time ever in La Liga tonight. That was the first surprise of the night, the other being the presence of Lass, Khedira and Alonso all together in midfield. Valencia pressurised hard in the opening minutes, but thanks to the presence of the centre midfielders the Whites held their own, while Ronaldo and Benzema made the locals struggle on occasion. The Frenchman had a chance to net the opener on the 11-minute mark, but his shot was off target only by inches.
Benzema wouldn't be as forgiving a few minutes later and defeated Alves with his left foot following a free-kick by Alonso. Valencia didn't know how to react and Real gained control of the game, looking for a counterattack to finish it off. The Whites nearly scored a second through Ronaldo in the 41st minute after receiving an exceptional pass from Benzema, but his shot was too forced and Alves managed to clear it with his left foot.
Valencia's game was more aggressive in attack after half-time and they made trouble for the Whites, but they also left wide spaces behind them, something lethal against this Real Madrid side. Albiol came on for Arbeloa on the 50-minute mark.
The game started to have a stop-start nature and also became rough to detriment of the Madridistas, who saw too many bookings. Nevertheless, the visitors scored a second strike through a Ramos header following a free-kick served by Ozil (70'). Mourinho then decided to bring Higuain on for Benzema.
Valencia never gave up and Soldado scored a first for his team despite a good save from Casillas (75'). Three minutes later, Alves misjudged a divided ball, loosing it to Cristiano who then tallied a third for his team. But Valencia stood their ground and Soldado scored again on the 82-minute mark, starting a local onslaught on Casillas' goal that even saw another goal by the striker being disallowed (90'). Aduriz, who had previously put Iker's reflexes to the tes, sent the ball to one of the posts as he tried to finish off a free-kick in inury time (94'). This effort brought the game to an end.
Summary
Stadium: Mestalla
Attendance: 45,000
Goals: 0-1, m.20: Benzema. 0-2, m.73. 1-2, m.75: Soldado. 1-3, m.79: Cristiano Ronaldo. 2-3, m.83: Soldado.
