Ronaldo powers Real to victory

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.
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 Argentine winger made it 3-0 himself with
a sensational curling effort from 25 yards and
rounded off the scoring in stoppage time with
another precide 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.
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 will feel they
should have went into half-time level after
Nicolai Jorgensen's header came back off the
bar when Casillas flapped at a corner and Luka
Modric had to clear the bound off his own
line.
And moments later veteran defender Olof
Mellberg also headed just wide from
Claudemir's cross. 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 stand up 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.