Real Madrid 3 Galatasaray 0: There is another match to come but Real Madrid would be entitled to feel that their work here is done. After six successive seasons without winning a single knockout tie in the tournament they consider their own, a third successive Champions League semi-final beckons for Jose Mourinho's team after an ultimately comfortable victory over Galatasary.
Fatih Terim’s side started boldly but that may have been their undoing; when the final whistle arrived, the game had long since ended. So too, in all likelihood, the tie. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain scored to put Madrid in a position so strong that Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos could seek out the yellow card that sees them sit out the second leg and arrive clear of cards in the semi-final. Few doubt that their team-mates will join him.
Didier Drogba started up front alongside the Champions League’s joint top scorer Yilmaz Barak, with Wesley Sneijder behind. Felipe Melo sat at the heart of midfield, with Hamit Altintop narrow to one side and Inan Selcuk to the other. At left back, the winger Albert Riera. On the right, Eboue was more winger than full-back.
When granted space, there are few sides like Mourinho's and they had the lead after just eight minutes. Xabi Alonso slotted the ball to Ozil, who played off Benzema and then rolled a neatly weighted pass into the area, between the centre-back and right-back positions. Ronaldo territory, in other words. He dashed in, took one touch with his right and lifted a lovely, delicate shot over Fernando Muslera and into the corner with his left. It was his 32nd goal in 37 Champions League appearances for Madrid, his 191st in 189 games overall.
Chance to equalise
Galatasary swiftly had the chance to equalise when Yilmaz let Eboue's pass run between his legs to Drogba, who turned Varane sharply on the edge of the area only to strike well over the bar, and just after that Ozil was wriggling away from challenges and finding Ronaldo in the area once more. This time Kaya made the challenge but, with Sneijder then sending a shot spearing wide at the other end, this was looking like the open game that Terim had promised.
Only a quarter of an hour had gone and, speaking of unexpected, Essien had already nutmegged Sneijder and Altintop had turned Ronaldo. The chances kept coming too. Ozil’s shot was saved by Muslera. Drogba’s long-range effort was half-saved then dropped out for a corner by Diego Lopez. Eboue tried to pull one back for the Ivorian. And Sneijder’s header came back off Khedira.
Yet the momentum was Madrid's and they had a second just before the half hour when Essien's cross from the right swung into the area. Ronaldo leapt for the ball. He failed to reach it but the jump turned into the decoy of a volleyball player at the net. Rising with him, both Eboue and Semih Kaya missed it and it dropped for Benzema, lurking just behind. There had been a doubt about whether he or Higuain would start but this is his competition. He controlled and scored his 30th goal in 50 Champions League games from close range. The semi-final beckoned already: Madrid were finding space and control, opportunities too, although there was a warning on the stroke of half-time when Lopez stopped Eboue's shot.
New approach
A new half suggested a new approach: Terim replaced the largely ineffective Sneijder with Gokhan Zan during the break and shifted to three at the back. If that theoretically freed up Riera and Eboue to advance up their wings with greater freedom, they largely had anyway, and it looked more like an attempt to limit the damage and return to Istanbul intact: 2-0 would be recoverable, three might not. To an extent, it worked. Ronaldo's shot, easily saved by Muslera, was the first moment of note in the first 15 minutes of the second period.
Soon after, Alonso scooped a clever pass into the area for Angel Di Maria whose finish, spinning to face goal and taking the shot on the bounce, was weak. What progress Galatasary made was tentative and while Madrid kept possession and kept looking for their opportunity, they partly settled into a new, slower and more patient routine.
Besides, a third soon followed. Higuain had not even been on the pitch 10 minutes when Alonso's free-kick delivery found him to the right of the penalty spot and, twisting his neck, he turned his header into the net.
Guardian Service
