Jose Mourinho is meticulous. In a 3-0 conquer Galatasaray, Real Madrid showed that thorough ruthlessness. Three-goal first-leg lead? Always check. Clean page? Yup. Proper orange cards? Oh, without a doubt. Once Gonzalo Higuain advised Xabi Alonso's free stop within the near post with a header, Alonso and Sergio Ramos made sure to pick up concerns. The second leg will be missed by them in Istanbul. Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid are one step nearer to the semifinals. (AP Images) Only one team has return from the three-goal first-leg shortage in Champions League record (Deportivo manhattan project CoruAa against AC Milan in 2004). Mourinho might pay lip-service to the loss of "two crucial players," but that is only to avoid a superb if possible. The last time these two easily accumulated suspensions was in November 2010. Then, in a 4-0 make an impression on Ajax in the group stages, Alonso and Ramos earned red cards. And they really had to make them, losing sight of their ways to waste time and gather 2nd whites. Ramos refused to take a free kick, fiddling along with his socks, until the umpire ejected him. He shook the ref's hand on his way out. The two missed the ultimate, worthless class phase match, and joined the knockout times with clear disciplinary slates. The gamesmanship wasn't much appreciated by uefa, providing a one-match touchline bar to Mourinho and fining all involved: 30,000 euros for Mourinho, 100,000 euros for Madrid, 20,000 euros for Alonso and Ramos, 10,000 euros for Iker Casillas and 6,000 euros for Jerzy Dudek. (Television footage revealed Dudek, the backup owner, driving along Mourinho's guidelines to Casillas, who relayed them to Ramos.) Obviously, UEFA will discover it more difficult to punish Madrid now. The Blancos did ample to cause their whites. Karim Benzema, who scored his 30th purpose in 50 Champions League activities, left his men saturated in a concern ala Nani, and avoided a card. Ramos probably should have admitted a punishment for stepping on Burak Yilmaz's foot; instead Yilmaz was cautioned for fishing and Galatasaray's top scorer may miss out the second leg. Crucial defense Dany Nounkeu, who created a game-leading seven fights and seven interceptions, is also. "The referee was slightly scared by Real Madrid's reputation," Fatih Terim said. "It is not to say that Real Madrid won this game due to the referee, but he was plainly not as much as this level." He's right, at least concerning the factors Real Madrid won. Terim still has not found a solution for how exactly to fit January signings Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder, plus Yilmaz, who'd won in six straight Champions League games ahead of Wednesday, into the same array. Against Madrid, the Turkish instructor forced Sneijder nominally left with (former?) Spanish global Albert Riera asked to overlap. Aside from a couple of early long-range Drogba pictures, it did not work. At halftime Terim threw in the towel, connecting Sneijder down for a defender. Though he made a game-high four key moves, Drogba tired drastically enough to suggest he must have made way instead. "Against Drogba, you have to impose physical power and intervene at the proper moment," 19-year-old RafaAl Varane, who led the game with three aerial duels won, told beIN Sport. "Mourinho told me about his the fact and game that he employs his body and his physical power to his advantage. He said specially never to engage." An incongruous attack a' allowing Los Blancos to help keep an initial clean page in 12 European matches a' only increased slack defending. Emmanuel EbouA rolled back the years and submitted an effectiveness Arsenal defenders are notorious for. First, he let Cristiano Ronaldo work behind him for the opener, a deft cut that requires the Portuguese in front of Pippo Inzaghi to sixth in the Champions League goalscoring maps, with 47 total. Then, two of Mourinho's distinct options, Michael Essien and Benzema, mixed, with EbouA all but ducking under the fullback's corner so that Benzema merely had to touch the ball in at the far post. After the next, when Galatasaray somehow allow Real Madrid's single striker assault a free kick unmarked, all that was left for the host part was to collect the necessity concerns. "Miracles do occur in baseball but certainly it will be very difficult against a team like Real Madrid," Terim said. "We played against a group determined to get the Champions League concept this year." Established enough to accomplish the gritty, uncouth work necessary, fines be damned.
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