Real Madrid 5-0 Espanyol. The offensive wrecking machine is back

Real Madrid 5-0 Espanyol. The offensive wrecking machine is back

Real Madrid restored the 10 points gap toBarcelona in a 5-0 impressive victory, this time against Espanyol. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opener and was followed by Higuaín (2),Khedira and Kaká, allowing the Merengues to control the game at their leisure.

Real Madrid extended their La Liga lead back to 10 points, after crushing Espanyolby 5-0, at the Santiago Bernabéu. Gonzalo Higuaín returned to scoring goals with a brace, after 8 games in a row without hitting the back of the net, while Cristiano Ronaldo added another to his tally, making his personal 30th goal of the season inLa Liga. Khedira and Kaká also tasted the feeling of celebrating a goal in theBernabéu last night, in a game that turned out to be easier than what was expected initially.

Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Real Madrid vs Espanyol
Real Madrid 5-0 Espanyol goals and highlights:

Unlike many other games of a recent past at the Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madridand Iker Casillas had a very quiet night, as Espanyol never really appeared to be close to score. The Merengues started the game with a good pace, passing the ball around and creating enough spaces to get good opportunities to score. It would take 24 minutes to see the 1st goal at the Bernabéu though and unsurprisingly, it wasCristiano Ronaldo the man who decided to open hostilities.

In a play where Espanyol lost a ball close to their penalty area, Mesut Ozil andGonzalo Higuaín were keen to quickly take advantage and explore their opponents poor positioning. The Argentinian would then assist Cristiano Ronaldo and thePortuguese star scored the first of the night, from a good finish with his left foot. It's the 30th goal Ronaldo scores in La Liga this season and he's now 2 goals ahead ofLionel Messi for the Pichichi trophy.

The Merengues would reach a more comfortable lead still during the 1st half, from a brilliant triangulation play between Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira. Espanyol was clearly struggling to close the gaps on their defense andKhedira ended putting Real Madrid two goals up, with still 7 minutes to be played before half-time. There would still be time for a couple more great chances to extend the lead, but Espanyol goalkeeper, Casilla, who definately has a very suggestive and peculiar name for someone playing on that position, had two good saves that prevented his team from going to the break with a more harsh result.

During half-time, José Mourinho decided to replace Ricardo Carvalho for Varane, after the Portuguese defender failed to impress over the first 45 minutes. Not onlyCarvalho failed a few passes that put his team in danger, but also got shown a yellow card and was often being whistled by the Santiago Bernabéu crowd. Mourinhodecided to protect his player and took him off for the 2nd half.

As usual, Real Madrid returned from the locker rooms very determined and the 3rd goal appeared immediatly on the 46th minute. After 8 games in a row playing without scoring a single goal, Gonzalo Higuaín scored his first of the night with a world-class first touch finish, after being assisted by Ricardo Kaká. This was an important game for Higuaín after so much speculation going on this past week, regarding the possibility of Real Madrid selling the Argentinian forward, in order to make room for the signing of Sergio Aguero.

This Saturday, in the game preview press conference, Mourinho had already reassured he's absolutely confident about Higuaín's qualities and importance for the team. Mourinho told the journalists that the Argentinian is a vital part of the club's project and that he would be a fool if he would actually intended to sell a player who he regards as one of the best forwards in the game.

Near the 66th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo ran down the left wing, crossed the ball inside to Higuaín, who then assisted Kaká for the 4th goal of the night. Espanyol had already dropped the towel long ago, but was now seriously risking to leave theBernabéu with a more humilliating defeat than the one they suffered back in October (0-4), when playing at home and against this same Merengues side. Before tonight's game, Espanyol had an average of 1.25 goals conceded per game and even though the result was already bad, things were about to get slightly uglier.

The clock was ticking the 78th minute at the Santiago Bernabéu when Gonzalo Higuaín proved once more how good of a striker he really is. Kaká dribbled an opponent on the left, drived inside and assisted Higuaín for another great first-touch strike, leaving no chances to Casilla. After that goal, Real Madrid hardcore supporters, the "Ultra Sur", who are often linked with right-wing ideologies, showed their good sense of humor and joked with Espanyol's goalkeeper (Casilla), by using the speaker to ask him to take his shirt off, since he was supposed to be a Real Madrid player. Would be interesting to see someone called "Ronald" coming acrossReal Madrid's path at the Bernabéu in a near future, just so we could see how the "Ultra Sur" would react once more.

Real Madrid line-up vs Espanyol:

Goalkeeper: Casillas
Defenders: Marcelo, Ricardo Carvalho, Sergio Ramos, Arbeloa
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Khedira
Attackers: Ozil, Kaká, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín

Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
Real Madrid	vs	Espanyol
5	Goals	0
5	Assists	0
22	Shots	6
12	Shots on goal	1
10	Corner kicks	3
18	Fouls commited	14
1	Yellow cards	4
0	Red cards	0
52%	Ball possession	48%

Real Madrid next game in La Liga will be against Betis, in Sevilla, next Saturday (10-03-2012). In the meanwhile you may watch Arsenal vs Milan, Benfica vs Zenit,Birmingham vs Chelsea and APOEL vs Lyon, from our football live streams section.Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to be on the line-up when Real Madrid hostsEspanyol this Sunday.

Real Madrid vs Betis kick-off time (10-03-2012):

Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 04:00
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+1: 22:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+0: 21:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-2: 19:00
New York (United States) | GMT-5: 16:00
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-8: 13:00
Beijing (China) | GMT-8: 13:00

Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com

Philippe Coutinho: "We have to find a way to stop Cristiano Ronaldo"

Philippe Coutinho is ready to face Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid this Sunday, asEspanyol prepares to visit the Santiago Bernabéu in another La Liga fixture. TheBrazilian player admitted that his side's success on this game will be highly dependent on whether or not they manage to stop Cristiano Ronaldo, but assures he'll try to lead his team into the right direction.

Real Madrid and Espanyol are expected to measure forces in the Santiago Bernabéufor La Liga, this Sunday night. The Brazillian talent, Philippe Coutinho, joined the "Periquitos" side on loan from Inter Milan last January and hopes that his team may put a good fight against Real Madrid. For that to happen, Coutinho is well aware of the need to find an effective way to stop Real Madrid's star, Cristiano Ronaldo, and he left a sort of an appeal for his team's defenders to mark the Portugueseplayer very closely. Espanyol is currently ranked 11th in La Liga with 33 points, but only 4 points away from 4th place, occupied by Malaga.

Philippe Coutinho - Futsal dribbles and goals (with 13-14 years old, in 2005):

Philippe Coutinho, who is currently 19 years-old, arrived to Italy and Inter Milan in 2010, at a very young age. The Brazilian had 18 appearances for the "Nerazurri", from which he scored 2 goals for the club. Last January, he joined Espanyol on a loan deal, hoping to be granted with more minutes on the pitch. Yet to score a goal in La Liga, Coutinho played in 4 games so far and hopes to leave a good impression this Sunday night, as Real Madrid hosts Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Coutinho: "It will be a complicated and really hard game for sure. We're doing a good campaign in La Liga, even though we lost some silly points recently. However, what matters is that we're still fighting for a UEFA Champions League spot. I've had the chance to participate in 4 games so far, but unfortunately, we didn't win a single one yet. Hopefully, our recent fate will change this Sunday", said the Brazilian player, born in Rio de Janeiro.

Cristiano Ronaldo keeps leading the Pichichi ranking table, even though Barcelonawon their game last night against Sporting Gijón by 3-1 at the Camp Nou, in a match where Lionel Messi didn't step on to the pitch because he was suspended for having seen 5 yellow cards in previous games. With 29 goals in La Liga, Cristiano Ronaldoactually has more goals than the entire Espanyol team, who only scored 27 times out of 24 games so far. Philippe Coutinho is well aware of the Portuguese player impressive stats and the need of stopping him this Sunday, specially after seeing that last goal that CR7 scored against Rayo Vallecano, from a magical back heel touch.

Coutinho: "What a goal that was! We have to defend him without granting any spaces. We need to mark him closely and strongly. Hopefully, I may also be able to put on a good performance and help my team coming out of the game with a good result. I'm sure those guys from Barcelona would appreciate it", said Coutinho in good humor, knowing that Pep Guardiola's side will be eagerly waiting for Real Madrid to drop some points this Sunday night.

On a side note, we will post some new and funny Neymar photos below, taken this Saturday at Santos training session. Neymar showed once again his great sense of humor as he tried to copy Cristiano Ronaldo hairstyle and free-kick stance, during his team's relaxation/"chill out" exercises. Santos will host the league leaders Corinthiansthis Sunday.

Real Madrid next scheduled game is against Espanyol for La Liga, on the 4th of March 2012. This weekend, you may also follow Real Madrid vs Espanyol live,Newcastle vs Sunderland, Tottenham vs Manchester United online and Roma vs Lazio, all scheduled to be played this Sunday and available from our football live streamssection. Cristiano Ronaldo will certainly be on the line-up tonight against Espanyol.

Real Madrid vs Espanyol kick-off time (04-03-2012):

Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 03:30
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+1: 21:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+0: 20:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-2: 18:30
New York (United States) | GMT-5: 15:30
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-8: 12:30
Beijing (China) | GMT-8: 12:30

Sources: ronaldo7.net / wikipedia.com / globoesporte.globo.com

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