0-5: Real Madrid quickly trash Valencia on Sunday night.
Real Madrid began their second round of La Liga season with an away game in Mestalla, the stadium of Valencia. The second out of three consecutive games against Valencia in just 8 days ended in a goal-scoring exhibition for the Whites who scored 5 goals and conceded none in a game with chances to score for both teams.
Real Madrid dominated the whole first half of the game. Though it was Valencia to test Casillas first in the 6th minute. Two minutes later Real Madrid had a clear opportunity to open scoring when Arbeloa gave a pass to Higuaín, who failed to beat Valencia goalkeeper Alves. The fans didn’t have to wait too long for the first goal to be scored. In the 9th minute Özil sent di María on a one-on-one with Alves. Di María wasn’t selfish and passed the ball back to his fellow countryman Higuaín, who scored with his left foot: 0-1.
On the 28th minute mark Özil brilliantly passed the ball to Khedira through the defense, but he decided to shoot right on the goalkeeper. Five minutes after that it was once again the German midfielder Khedira who missed a quickly set-up counter attack. Real Madrid kept looking for their second goal and only one minute after Khedira’s second miss of the night, di María was there to double the score after a great preparation of Cristiano Ronaldo. He fooled two defenders by doing the same trick twice and then saw di María appear by the second post, a shot the Argentine couldn’t impossibly miss: 0-2.
Not even two minutes later, after 36 minutes, Ronaldo made his first goal of the night. He received the ball in midfield from fellow Portuguese Coentrão and started his rush to Alves’ goal. When he got into the penalty box, he shot the ball with great force behind Valencia’s goalkeeper Alves, who didn’t have a happy night at all: 0-3.
Spectators were already going to the stadium pubs to have a drink when Real Madrid made it 0-4. Di María gave a cross from the left to Özil, who recently had been chosen best player of the German national team, then the latter assisted Cristiano Ronaldo with a backheel. Ronaldo took the ball in one time and beat Alves for the fourth time.
It took the home side 43 minutes to be really dangerous for the first time. Guardado’s distance shot just went wide as Casillas could have impossibly saved the ball if it was on target. Just as everyone thought that the first half was over, in the 45 minute, Özil assisted di María with the outside of his foot. Di María went on a one-on-one with Alves and the Argentinian didn’t fail. He shot the ball next to the goalkeeper in the back of the net. So at half time the score of the game had yet been decided: 0-5
Real Madrid dominated the whole first half, but it looked as if Valencia coach Valverde said some magical words during half time because Valencia dominated the second half. They weren’t as dangerous as Real Madrid were in the first half, but they created more opportunities and Real Madrid didn’t. The Whites just defended their 0-5 lead with luck and success. Luck was already there in the 50th minute as Piatti’s shot from distance hit the crossbar.
Three minutes later a header from a corner kick was saved on the line by Coentrão. In 5 minutes Costa could shoot a volley twice. The first one went wide, but the second one had to be saved by Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas. On the 64th minute mark Jonas pulled of a one-two with former Real Madrid-player Soldado in the penalty area and the former had a great chance to score. However Jonas couldn’t keep his shot on target. 9 minutes before the end of the game Banega tried a shot from distance. It was only a desperate attempt that went high and the last dangerous action Valencia could come up with this game.
Real Madrid ended the game with two huge chances to even enlarge the score. Higuaín’s shot in the box was deviated by a defender and passed the post on the wrong side. 4 minutes before the final whistle Cristiano Ronaldo couldn’t finish a fine cross from Croatian reservist Modric. Valencia – Real Madrid ended in a 0-5 victory for the visitors and they also managed to keep a clean sheet for the 4th consecutive time. Since Barcelona lost 3-2 to Sociedad the gap between the Spanish giants shrank to 15 points in favor of the Catalan side.