An
imperious Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice on his first competitive start
of the season as Real Madrid beat APOEL Nicosia 3-0 on Wednesday to get
their quest for a third successive Champions League crown off on the
right note.
Ronaldo has been banned from domestic football since August for
pushing a referee and only needed 12 minutes to get back amongst the
goals in the competition where he is the all-time top scorer, meeting
Gareth Bale's low cross to arrow home.
The Portuguese struck the
underside of the crossbar early in the second half then moments later
hit his 109th Champions League goal by powering home from the spot after
APOEL's Spanish defender Roberto Lago was harshly penalised for
handball.
Captain Sergio Ramos rubber-stamped what was a routine victory for
Madrid over the Cypriot champions with a scrappy overhead kick in the
61st minute.
Ronaldo
was denied another penalty and a potential hat-trick when he was tripped
in the area but his appeals went unnoticed, while late in the game he
had a goal chalked off for a clear offside.
Elsewhere, Shakhtar Donetsk stunned Serie A's Napoli with goals
either side of half-time to win 2-1 in their Champions League Group F
match on Wednesday.
Brazil's
Taison put the Ukrainian champions up 1-0 on the quarter-hour mark by
controlling a backheel flick by Facundo Ferreyra on the edge of the box
before beating goalkeeper Pepe Reina with a low drive.
In the 58th minute Reina misread a curling cross by Taras Stepanenko
from the left that connected with Ferreyra, who tapped in the ball for
Shakhtar's second goal.
Napoli failed to capitalise on their chances after Polish striker
Arkadiusz Milik scored in the 72nd minute from a penalty awarded for a
foul on Dries Mertens.
Credit - Telegraph
No comments:
Post a Comment