Real Madrid ease up their league title bit after successfully trashing their opponent, Racing Santander this weekend, keeping their lead over rival, Barcelona, pretty much in tack.
Karim Benzema bagged a brace to add Christiano Ronaldo’s opener, while Angel Di Maria also returned his name in the score sheet after being out for quite a while due to injury problems.
Playing ahead of their potentially troubling Champions League tie in midweek, Madrid apparently doesn’t have any intention in saving their energy as Jose Mourinho went for his best possible squad with Ronaldo, Benzema, Mesut Ozil and Kaka all starting. It took only six minutes for Los Blancos to take the lead as their super star Portuguese attacking winger started the mauling with his 35th goal in the season from 34 appearances.
Despite dominating, things didn’t actually went all easy for Madrid as it took them until the added time in first half before doubling their lead and it also arrived after Santander were forced to play with 10 men because of Domingo Cisma’s second yellow card. Benzema was the one taking full advantage of the situation as the Frenchman clipped the ball passed the visitor’s goalie after receiving a lovely assist from Xabi Alonso.
Leading two goals up with along with a man advantage obviously made things whole lot easier for Madrid as they successfully added two more goals, which once again gave another comprehensive victory for the Galacticos. Di Maria, who came in as a second half substitute marked his return from a long injury with a trade mark goal, cutting in from the right side of the field before smashing his shot passed Tono on Santander’s goal.
In the final minutes of the match, Benzema picked up his second of the game after his blistering shot snook through Tono’s hand, despite the keeper’s previous effort in saving Di Maria’s effort. The result temporarily puts Madrid 13 points above Barcelona, and although that gap could be decreased by Sunday but the chance of Mourinho’s team maximizing their advantage is pretty huge considering that the Catalan side are facing third place, Valencia on the week.
photo credit: Eric Caballero
