After many weeks watching Real Madrid struggle, today we saw a much better display from Madrid.
Real Madrid had the lion's share of the ball possession and created opportunities at will. The only flaw was they ( read Ronaldo ) could not convert.
The man who stood between Madrid and many goals was the Malaga Goalkeeper - Willy.
Today was not of one Cristiano's better days. He missed so many opportunities that when he took the penalty, I thought, that going by the flow of play, he would not convert. But luckily he did.
Madrid played flowing football and the standouts were Marcelo, Di Maria and Morata. Even Khedira played well. The flowing attacks produced wonderful play but the finishing touch kept eluding Madrid.
The first half ended goalless.
Almost at the beginning of the second half, Di Maria's cross found the back of the net as the Malaga Goalkeeper was distracted / blindsided by Cristiano's diving attempt to get a touch on the ball.
The game flowed at a frantic pace with Madrid launching one attack after another without much luck. Isco, Morata and Di Maria were substituted and we saw Modric, Bale and Jese enter the field of play.
Each played their own part and late in the second half, Bale was brought down inside the penalty area and Ronaldo converted.
I think the side fielded by Ancelotti was one of the better and stronger sides fielded by Madrid this season and it will great to see them play and gain confidence with one another.
This week with the EuropeanChampionship match and the Classico coming up, Madrid needs to stay focused and stay strong.
Hope this victory over Malaga will provide the necessary boost they need.
The Madrid team did not start with Sergio Ramos, Isco and Arbeloa but instead selected Marcelo,Carvajal and Varane. These were good moves as Madrid protected its left flank and Marcelo's speed and skills helped mount attacks from the left wing.
Carvajal played a more attacking game down the right hand side but he also seems incapable of crossing or centering balls to the forwards waiting in the area. This has become a major concern this year.
In the first half, Madrid attacked frequently but most of the moves fizzled out due to lack of ideas. The Madrid forwards were at one time lining up to take shots at the Copenhagen goal but the lack of accuracy was quite pathetic to watch.
As usual Benzema was not playing well but later in the match, he made a couple of good passes that brought back some of the Madrid fans to his side.
Late into the first half, Marcelo's measured, floating cross from the left completely fooled the Copenhagen goalkeeper and Ronaldo made no mistake in heading in his first goal. The cross was a beauty and all credit to Cristiano Ronaldo to head the ball down onto the grass and then bounced it in.
Madrid went into the interval with a goal advantage.
The second half began in the same manner as in the first half. Madrid lacked finishing skills and then after the first 10 minutes, the game changed. Madrid it seemed woke up and started playing some attacking and attractive football.
The second goal started with back heel from Benzema to Di Maria inside the area and Di Maria floated the ball to the near post. The beauty of this goal was that Ronaldo who was behind the defender, moved out in front of the defender and headed the ball home. The move to go in front and meet the ball and thereby taking the defender out the equation was really great thinking.
Madrid made two substitutions - bringing on Isco for Khedira and a little later Morata for Modric. The substitutions were applauded by the fans because firstly Khedira had not played particulary well and secondly Isco and Morata are fast becoming the Bernabeu favourites.
The third goal was a solo run by Di Maria at the Copenhagen goal and he curled the ball into the far left hand side giving the goalkeeper absolutely no chance at all. It was a great goal to see - specially when you can see the ball turning and beating the goalkeeper - a treat for the eyes.
Madrid made their third substitution for the night bringing on Jesse for Benzema.
The fourth goal came from the right hand side when Morata managed to "rob" the ball from the Copenhagen defender and pass the ball to Di Maria who made no mistake in putting the ball into the back of the net.
The match ended Real Madrid 4-0.
Although the fans were happy to go home with a victory, the Madrid defence let the Copenhagen forwards too much space and time with ball in their area. The Copenhagen team created quite a few dangerous chances. The first was in the first half when Luka Modric had to kick the ball away from Madrid's goal line. And in the second half, a Copenhagen forward found himself solo in front of the Madrid goal and thank Saint Iker for bringing off a brilliant save. That save was followed by a corner when Iker again had to pull off a left handed save. These were three clear chances of goal that Copenhagen missed.
Ancelotti should be careful of corners because everytime Copenhagen had a corner, the Madrid defence was caught out. This is a very serious weakness in the Madrid defence. The finishing skills have to be honed and finally the accuracy of passing needs improvement.
Anyway it looks like Real Madrid will sail into the next round with this victory.
