Ronaldo double sees Real Madrid ease past FC Copenhagen

Madrid: Real Madrid made it six points from two games in Group B as doubles from Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria guided them to a 4-0 win over FC Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Following his hat-trick in the 6-1 thrashing of Galatasaray in matchday one, Ronaldo now has five goals in just two Champions League games this season.

The Portuguese headed home the opener midway through the first-half from Marcelo’s fine cross and made the game safe 25 minutes from time with another headed effort from Di Maria’s cross.

The Argentinian winger made it 3-0 himself with a sensational curling effort from 25 yards and rounded off the scoring in stoppage time with another precise left-footed finish.

A 2-2 draw between Juventus and Galatasaray in the night’s other game in Group B leaves Madrid well on course for the last-16, four points ahead of Juve with the Italians set to visit the Spanish capital next time out.

“We played a great match, we changed the system a bit and played with three up front,” Di Maria told Spanish TV station Canal Plus.

“The manager continues to believe in us and he is very happy with our work tonight.”

“We need to continue in this manner, we are the ones that can make the games easy and if we keep playing like tonight things will go well.”

With Gareth Bale sidelined due to a thigh strain, Real boss Carlo Ancelotti had reacted to Saturday’s 1-0 derby defeat to Atletico Madrid by making five changes.

Iker Casillas returned in goal for the first time in nearly nine months at the Bernabeu, whilst Raphael Varane and Marcelo also made their first appearances since recovering from injury.

Madrid didn’t have things quite as easy as might have been expected in the early stages with Karim Benzema’s header from close range that drifted wide their only clear-cut opportunity.

However, they did eventually make the breakthrough on 21 minutes as Copenhagen keeper Johan Wiland got caught under Marcelo’s out-swinging cross from the left and Ronaldo was left with a simple header at the back post.

Di Maria should have made it 2-0 moments later when he side-footed wide from Benzema’s intelligent cut-back and then saw a flicked header from another dangerous Marcelo cross creep just wide.

However, the Danish champions were left aggrieved just before half-time when Nicolai Jorgensen’s header came back off the bar and the ball brushed Luka Modric’s hand as he cleared the rebound off the line.

“It was a very decisive moment at the end of the first-half when it may be given a penalty and he may also have to give a red card as it is a goalscoring opportunity,” said Copenhagen boss Stale Solbakken

“It looks like a penalty for me, but I wouldn’t blame the referee as it went very fast.”

Madrid continued to dictate play at the start of the second-half without much penetration as Modric fired just wide before a Ronaldo free-kick dropped onto the roof of the net.

The second goal did finally arrive when neat play between Di Maria and Benzema released the former to send over a wonderful cross that Ronaldo bulleted home.

Di Maria sealed a fine individual performance with a sweet left-footed strike six minutes later.

And he piled more misery on Copenhagen in stoppage time as he collected a loose ball inside the area and fired low into the bottom corner.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti insisted he is not concerned about the general fitness of Gareth Bale after the Welshman missed Real’s 4-0 win due to a thigh strain.

It is the second time in two weeks that Bale has been sidelined by a thigh problem as he also missed the league matches against Getafe and Elche.

And Ancelotti hinted that he will miss Saturday’s game away to Levante as well as Wales’ remaining World Cup qualifiers against Macedonia and Belgium before returning after the international break.

“We are not worried, but he was not able to play today due to a small problem,” Ancelotti told a press conference.

“The scan didn’t show anything special, he has just to recover his condition because his pre-season was not so good.

“Now we have time because there is a two-week break and I think he will be ready then.

“It is normal that he is not happy because he wants to play, but it is not a big problem because he will have time to play when there is no risk of injury.”