Champions League - Ronaldo shoots down Marseille

Eurosport - Wed, 30 Sep 22:29:00 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo fired a warning to other Champions League contenders as Real Madrid shot down 10-man Marseille 3-0 in a six-minute blitz at the Bernabeu.

FOOTBALL Cristiano Ronaldo Kaka Karim Benzema Real Madrid - 0

The Portuguese superstar struck in the 58th and 64th minutes - and won the disputed spot kick which Kaka duly despatched for the second goal of the game.

The win puts Los Galacticos firmly on top of Group C as they look forward to the upcoming crunch tie with Milan.

Real boss Manuel Pellegrini left Raul on the bench, opting to start Fernando Gago in midfield alongside Xabi Alonso, but despite all Real's possession, it was the French side who carved out the first real opening.

Stephane M'Bia threaded the ball between two Real defenders forcing Casillas to hack the ball away as Mamadou Niang bore down.

At the other end, Steven Mandanda denied Kaka from a matter of yards after the Brazilian skipped into the box and then saw his opposite number save from close range to thwart Niang following Pepe's error.

Ronaldo had a 25-yard effort beaten away by Mandanda, before Karim Benzema had a gilt-edged chance to send Real in ahead at the break.

The Frenchman had already seen an audacious overhead effort narrowly clear the bar and was left holding his head when Mandanda saved superbly at his near post in stoppage time.

The breakthrough finally came 13 minutes into the second period. Pepe sent a long ball over the top and the onside Ronaldo cheekily slid the ball under the jumping Mandanda.

Real doubled their money three minutes later in controversial circumstances.

Ronaldo skipped into the Marseille box and as Souleymane Diawara's thundering tackle took both man and ball, referee Martin Hansson pointed to the spot and gave the Senegal man a second yellow.

Marseille clearly felt the ex-Manchester United man had made too much of the contact, but Kaka simply waited for the furore to die down before calmly sending Mandanda the wrong way.

If the second was dubious, the third was divine.

An exquisite move ended with Benzema exchanging passes with Kaka, and Ronaldo had the simplest of tasks to side-foot the ball home from the Frenchman's pass.

It could have been worse for the visitors, but substitute Gonzalo Higuain inexplicably missed from a matter of yards with eight minutes remaining, but with Milan beaten by FC Zurich, Real will feel they already have one foot in the last 16.

Ian Hare / Eurosport

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  1. Hey Sunny .sleep

    sounds that u got bothered from my­ comments , am sorry but the truth always hurts.i am not­ a messi fan but i am a fan of fabio capello who said­ that messi has an edge above all other player .­ fullstop

    From hasan a, on Fri 2 Oct 12:26AM

  2. hey hasan a
    Really?? cut and paste comments? Whats up­ with that, h8er?? Whats with the poo-poo against­ CR7??
    really?? too funny u cut and paste your silly­ comments on other boards. toooo funny. park your lazy­ a$s off messy-bessy. get a life.

    From sunny.sleep, on Thu 1 Oct 9:44PM

  3. i think its an honor for ronaldo to be compared to­­ Messi . Messi is different . creator genius great goal­­ scorer , genius . I did not see ronado playing , he is­­ a great goal scorer thats it . u can compare him to­ eto­ , milito , benzema, zlatan , thats it . but Messi­ has­ an edge over him . Messi is a team player ,an­ integral­ part in each attack of Barca , u can see that­ if he is­ not the goal scorer , he will give the assist­ of the­ goal , and if not he will be the creator of it­ . ronldo­ is scoring only and honesly most of his goal­ came by­ luck and bad goal keeping . with Maeselia he­ only­ toched the ball to get it in the net

    From hasan a, on Thu 1 Oct 6:58PM

  4. ronaldo is worth every penny..........kaka and ronaldo­­ are forming a chemistry like the rooney -ronaldo­­ partnership.....if it fruits then REAL MADRID WILL BE­­ DEVASTATING.....RONALDO HAS SCORED 9 GOALS IN 7­­ MATCHES....TRULY STUNNING.............REAL WILL­ ATLEAST­ BE IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL...ONLY TEAM THAT­ COULD­ BEAT IS BARCELONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NO ONE TRULY CAN­ AT­ CURRENT SITUATION........MARK MY WORDS AND YOU WILL­ ALL­ CONGRAJULATE ME ON MY PREDICTION....NO OFFENCE TO­­ ANYONE...THINK WITH NO BIAS

    From S Vikram, on Thu 1 Oct 5:59PM

  5. already madrid has come out all guns blazing! however,­ they should not be taken up by the hulla balloo and­ concentrate on winning games by playing together as a­ unit! after all football is a team sport and team that­ can gel together is what determines its success at all­ times!

    From paulm, on Thu 1 Oct 12:43PM

  6. Ronaldo is at his old tricks gain . The penalty was­ clearly a DIVE . Once a cheat always a cheat !!

    From Tim, on Thu 1 Oct 11:41AM

  7. I SEE SOME GUYS HERE TRYING TO PREDICT THE CL­ FINALISTS, SAYING IT MAY WELL BE RM vs BARÇA...
    EVEN IF­ THOSE TEAMS ARE THE BEST ONES, IT'S GONNA BE THE­ DRAW TO DETERMINE IF THEY WILL BE IN DIFFERENT HALVES­ OF THE DRAW!

    From Vítor, on Thu 1 Oct 10:43AM

  8. Don`t waste your heartless feelings hating Ronaldo­ becoz he produces the desired results in the field, i.e­ to score and make the team win trophies and money just­ as he used to do at Man U. Thus why he put on NO 9,­ facing the opponent Goalkeeper. Just to creat all­ possible opportunities and burry the ball into the net.­ That`s the difference between the CLASS and FORM.­ Ronaldo is in his own Class.Take him to Mars , Jupita­ or Pluto, he will still score. Serve your health,­ energy by hating other things, but not Ronaldo. His­ gift is naturally from God. Learn to distinguish­ classic players from the Chuff and the learn to­ appreciate what is good.

    From Artwell, on Thu 1 Oct 10:04AM

  9. Wow they finally BOUGHT a team that looks like it may­ win something big....all about the money!!!!!!

    From thompson.stuart, on Thu 1 Oct 9:53AM

  10. I am a die hard RM fan, but I'll be honest. I feel­ that they might get to the finals, but there are a few­ explotable chinks in the armour which need to be­ addressed. The team seems to gel really well and play­ exciting football but usually towards the end of the­ first half and down the second. Their starts have been­ mediocre. Its like a big engine warming up to fire on­ all pistons. That is where the damage could be done,­ when the likes of Barca or any of the English­ contongent (or even one or two of the Italians) could­ cause a dent. After that these teams could play­ defensively, taking chances on the counter and things­ wouldnt matter. Real need to bolster and shape up in­ the first half. Having said that part of the problem is­ that neither I and probably even the team members on­ the pitch can see themsleves loosing, with so much­ firepower at their disposal. You can tell the­ overconfidence on the pitch purely by watching the­ first half where they do not engage with their oponents­ that seriously. Myabe the fact that they just can't­ see themselves loosing might be their undoing. Barca is­ playing good football, but I think that their players­ are being overworked. Messi's been doing wonders­ this season and last season, he is going to get hurt­ soon. Ibra is too dependent on his headers (doesnt­ happen every game) and a clean shot in front of goal­ (which doesnt happen every game). So they will suffer.­ Plus Man Utd and Chelsea are seeking retribution. If­ either of these two face Barca before the final I think­ Messi and crew will be out.
    If I were asked to rate­ the top four contenders I would say Real Madrid, Barca,­ Man Utd, Chelsea. The dark horses capable of causing­ these upsets are Arsenal, Liverpool and Juve. The rest­ of the lot look like easy pickings...but then in the­ CL...you just never know!

    From moekay75, on Thu 1 Oct 9:29AM

  11. What was so controversial about the penalty? It was a­ clear penalty - the defender hit the leg first, then­ ball, inside penalty area, and it was a vicious­ challenge as well - straight leg at full speed, injury­ guaranteed.

    From therealchegevara, on Thu 1 Oct 9:15AM

  12. mamble you plank name the last team to win at Anfeild­ in Europe?

    We have beaten­ Barca/Inter/Juve/Madrid/Arsenal

    Incidently we beat­ these teams home and away

    Its only Chelsea thats done­ a number on us and that ended 4-4 out on away­ goals.

    Liverpools record in this competition is­ unsurpassed

    We are the trend setters and record­ breakers , I'd like to see manure do something­ similar

    From FoeyP, on Thu 1 Oct 8:40AM

  13. madrid will lose to barca or mu anyway. it's not­ all about how much you spend but how you play and hope­ "the galacticos' will get their lesson:)

    From roman_chrusciel, on Thu 1 Oct 8:30AM

  14. No 49: Nobody nowadays expects to lose at Anfield.....

    From mambles, on Thu 1 Oct 8:16AM

  15. barca and madrid will lose at anfield and liverpool­ will carve out a nil nil at either ground in spain.

    From ewan.nelson, on Thu 1 Oct 8:10AM

  16. Sorry MU fans, but you've just got to choke on the­ fact that CR went both to a better team and a better,­ bigger club; Sir Alex must be praying that you never­ have to face Real - they'll destroy you!

    From mambles, on Thu 1 Oct 8:06AM

  17. Well done Ronaldo, Alex is missing you badly!!!

    From What-a-Load-of-Rubbish-U-Lot, on Thu 1 Oct 7:49AM

  18. i think that madrid need 2 work hard more & more­ bcoz they were very bad in the first half they suffer­ every first half from theemselvs first . They don't­ play with each other . I think that the selling of­ robben was a big mistake , there is no a superstar­ stricker on the bench .

    From somaly50, on Thu 1 Oct 7:06AM

  19. I made the correction …satisfied?

    From raed i, on Thu 1 Oct 6:33AM

  20. the best two teams in europe are barca then real like¬­ it or hate it but this is the truth

    From raed i, on Thu 1 Oct 6:31AM
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