Real Madrid eased to a comfortable win against Villarreal
in their Primera Division clash thanks to a breathtaking
first-half performance in a 3-0 win over Villarreal
at the Bernabeu.
Karim Benzema scored Real's first in the seventh minute
before Kaka and Angel Di Maria found the back of the
net as Jose Mourinho's side completely overran the Yellow
Submarine in a dominant opening period.
The win means the nine-time European champions have
now taken their tally of home wins under Mourinho to
30 from 35 games and they moved into second in the overall
standings, one point behind leaders Levante.
Villarreal slipped two places into 18th and into the
relegation zone.
The game started at a blistering pace and Real had
a goal ruled out almost immediately when Cristiano Ronaldo's
free-kick found Sergio Ramos in the area but the defender's
strike was chalked off for offside.
Di Maria then clipped the ball in towards Benzema seconds
later but his shot just went wide.
But Benzema did open the scoring in the fifth minute,
when the visitors failed to deal with Real's scorching
pace.
Di Maria fired an inch-perfect long pass from the right
and picked out the onrushing striker in the area, and
he beat the last man and lobbed his shot over Diego
Lopez.
Ronaldo was unlucky to double Real's lead a minute
later when he whipped a shot across the face of Lopez's
goal as the hosts dominated both territory and possession.
However, Kaka did add the second in the 11th minute
after some quick passing at the edge of the box set
up the Brazilian who coolly fired low past Lopez.
Some stunning skill from Marcelo almost set Benzema
up for his second in the 25th minute, but Real found
their third on the half-hour after a fantastic counter-attacking
move which resulted in Di Maria calmly slotting the
ball past Lopez.
Villarreal did have some chances but they rarely troubled
Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
After the break, Xabi Alonso fired a testing free-kick
into the area as Real picked up where they left off,
but Ronaldo was flagged offside and a chance went begging.
But then Villarreal started to up the pace and managed
to keep Real's potent attacking threat under wraps as
Mourinho resisted resting key players ahead of the weekend
game against Real Sociedad until well into the second-half.
Real lost a little momentum as the second-half progressed,
but Villarreal were unable to break down a rock-solid
defence that has only conceded four goals in its last
10 games in all competitions.
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