Real Madrid came from behind to earn what turned out to be a fairly comfortable win against Getafe. Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco all found the net en route to a 4-1 win, and after the hosts cancelled out Getafe's early opener they never looked like getting anything but all three points.
Real Madrid vs. Getafe: Final score 4-1, Real comfortable despite rocky start
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It was an inauspicious start, however. The hosts lost record signing Gareth Bale during warmups, and Getafe added insult to injury by going ahead after just five minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo was dispossessed (unfairly, he thought), and while he was protesting Getafe pushed towards goal. Lafita then sent a deflected shot past Diego Lopez from outside the box.
The man who did the deflecting, Pepe, soon made up for it with the equalising goal. Getafe played a dangerous attempted offside trap on a free kick, and it didn’t work. That allowed Ronaldo to sneak in at the back post, and although his initial shot was well saved by Miguel Moya, Pepe scrambled in the rebound from close range.
Getafe didn’t learn their lesson, and came within inches of going behind from a similar situation -- this time Ronaldo couldn’t get his effort on target. But the second goal was coming, and the Portuguese was the man to score it. His free kick was blocked in the box by Michel; the referee pointed to the spot and Ronaldo blasted past Moya to make it 2-1.
Karim Benzema could and should have made it 3-1 as the half came to a close. Daniel Carvajal did wonderfully on the right, beating his man and playing in a cross which bent just out of Alexis' reach, but Benzema didn't manage to get clean contact and saw his bobbling 'shot' clawed off the line by Moya. Moya denied Benzema once more just after halftime, pushing away a crisp strike after the striker had been found by Ronaldo with a cutback.
Madrid needed a third, and if their centre forward wasn’t going to provide it, someone else would. And so Isco stepped up. Ronaldo played him into the box with a quick free kick, and Isco drifted inside before bending a delightful curling shot into the back of the net.
Benzema then embarrassed himself further, somehow contriving to miss an open goal from point-blank range after a lovely cross from Alvaro Arbeloa and then spurning another easy chance by hitting Carvajal’s delivery wide of the post.
But despite Benzema’s cavalcade of failure in front of goal, things got even worse for Getafe. Michel was shown a straight red for scything down substitute Jese Rodriguez in the 86th minute, and after going down to ten men the visitors had absolutely no hope of clawing back the deficit.
There was time enough to add some gloss to the victory, with Ronaldo backheeling in a cross with the final kick of the game to make it 4-1. All in all, and despite the early setbacks, it was an easy enough win.
Real Madrid starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Diego Lopez, Alvaro Arbeloa, Nacho Fernandez, Pepe, Daniel Carvajal; Asier Illarramendi (Luka Modric 77'), Sami Khedira; Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco (Jese Rodriguez 84'), Angel di Maria; Karim Benzema (Alvaro Moratta 80').
Goals: Pepe 19’, Ronaldo 33’, Isco 59’.
Getafe starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Miguel Moya; Sergio Escudero (Roberto Lago 45’), Alexis, Lisandro Lopez, Alvaro Arroyo (Rafa Lopez 70’); Pedro Mosquera, Michel; Diego Castro, Lafita (Sarabia 45’), Pedro Leon; Miku.
Goals: Lafita 5’.
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