Wednesday 3 April 2013

Right on Track

Nobody realistically expected Galatasaray to go to the Santiago Bernabeu and pull off a win, but it did turn out pretty badly for them, probably even worse than standard expectations.

Fatih Terim's team had some chances, yes, but everything worked out for Real on this day.

The chances that Real failed to convert were actually fewer than the chances Galatasaray failed to convert.
It should also be mentioned that most of those Galatasaray chances came in the first half. After the break, Mourinho decided to have his team take a more cautious approach.

Well-converted goals by Cristiano Ronaldo (in minute 9) and Karim Benzema (29), after errors in Turkish defensive marking, meant half-time saw the Spanish hosts ahead by two.
Even though the Madrid team pressed forward with less urgency in the second half, they did stretch their advantage, thanks to Higuain's precise header, 17 minutes before the end.

Despite having a well-balanced team, with players like Drogba, Sneijder, Hamit Altintop, Eboue, Uruguayan-national-team-goalkeeper Muslera and former top goalscorer in the Champions League Burak Yilmaz (- Ronaldo now has 9 goals in the competition, one more than the Turk -), Galatasaray proved somewhat mediocre.
And surely now they must be as good as eliminated from this year's Champions League.

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