Real Madrid Cruise to 3-0 Win Over Galatasaray

Real Madrid took a huge step
towards reaching the Champions
League semi-finals for the third
consecutive year as they beat
Galatasaray 3-0 at the Santiago
Bernabeu.
Cristiano Ronaldo got the hosts off
to the perfect start as he calmly
chipped home from Mesut Ozil's
wonderful through ball after just
nine minutes.
Karim Benzema then doubled
Madrid's lead on 29 minutes with
a simple finish at the back post
from Michael Essien's cross and
Gonzalo Higuain headed home the
third 17 minutes from time to seal
a highly satisfactory evening for
the hosts.
Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim
had signaled his intent to attack
by naming the trio of Wesley
Sneijder, Didier Drogba and Burak
Yilmaz in his starting line-up.
However, as a result the Turkish
champions gifted way too much for
Madrid to create in midfield, with
Ozil in particular shining in the
first-half.
The German international set-up
the opener as he received Xabi
Alonso's pass before turning and
feeding Ronaldo to dink the ball
over the advancing Fernando
Muslera for his ninth Champions
League goal of the campaign.
Drogba nearly produced an
immediate reply for the visitors as
he spun Raphael Varane on the
edge of the box, but with a clear
sight of goal the Ivorian lashed
wildly wide of the target.
Sneijder also fired wide from 20
yards as Galatasaray went in
search of the away goal.
However, that was opening up
gaps that Madrid love to exploit on
the counter-attack and from
another sprightly break Ozil forced
Muslera into a good low save.
Drogba did hit the target with
another long-range strike that
Diego Lopez could only turn behind
for a corner and Galatasaray had a
good claim for a penalty turned
down when Sami Khedira appeared
to handle inside his own area.
Yet, they were still struggling to
cope at the back and went further
behind when Essien's cross just
evaded Ronaldo but fell perfectly
for Benzema to slot in off the near
post.
Emmanuel Eboue had a great
chance to give Terim's men a
lifeline just before half-time as he
broke through on goal after a neat
exchange of passes with Drogba,
but the former Arsenal defender
fired his shot too close to Lopez,
who made a comfortable save.
Perhaps recognizing the error of
his ways to start the game, Terim
replaced Sneijder with Gokhan Zan
at the break.
The change to a 5-3-2 formation
did allow the visitors to stem the
tide of Madrid attacks in the
second period, but the Spanish
champions should have scored a
third when Angel Di Maria was
found by another majestic Ozil
pass only for the Argentine to
volley meekly into Muslera's arms.
The tie was virtually killed off by a
third Madrid goal 17 minutes from
time though as substitute Higuain
glanced home Alonso's in-swinging
free-kick.
And Galatasaray's night was
summed up when Yilmaz saw a
yellow card for diving when he was
challenged by Sergio Ramos,
meaning he will now miss the
return-leg on Tuesday