Champions League: Great Victory – Galatasaray 1-6 Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo hits a hat-trick as Real Madrid ran in the second half against Galatasaray to send a threatening message to the other teams about their ambitions in the Champions League with a 6-1 victory in Istanbul In the opening match of the tournament for the Los Blancos.

Galatasaray started the game with enthusiasm and threatened Real Madrid several times, but they crumbled after Isco scored the first goal after 33′ minutes. After the first goal, Real Madrid dominated the rest of the game and scored five goals in the second half two of them were by Benzema (54′, 81′) and three by Cristiano Ronaldo (63′, 66′, 90′). Six minutes before the end of the match Galatasaray scored their first and only goal in the game (84′). Gareth Bale started the match on the bench, but came on midway through the second half and created one of Ronaldo’s goals and made a great performance.

Iker Casillas was the goal keeper and started ahead of Diego Lopez after being told by coach Carlo Ancelotti that he would be the goalkeeper in Champions Leage while Diego Lopez plays in La Liga. However, his night soon came to a premature end when he took an elbow to the ribs from his colleague Sergio Ramos and was substituted in the 13th minute for Diego Lopez who did a great job in protecting Real Madrid from many attacks. Most of Madrid fans were disappointed when they saw the team’s captain leaving the match injured. Casillas spent a lot of time on the bench for technical reasons since his injury last season against Valencia. At that time, Real Madrid bought Diego Lopez to take over Casillas place temporarily until the Captain comes back from his injury. However that did not happen because of Diego Lopez’s Amazing performance and that is why Casillas lost his place and spent most of the games in the bench. This game was the chance to see the Captain of Real Madrid and Spain playing in competitive games again. After all, Madridista were happy of the victory and the great performance of the players.

Here is the game facts by eurosport.com

• Real Madrid have won more games (106) than any other club in the history of the Champions League.
• This was Real Madrid’s first ever win in Turkey in European competition, having failed to triumph in their previous three attempts.
• Cristiano Ronaldo now has 206 goals in 204 matches for Real Madrid

PLAYER RATINGS –

GALATASARAY: Muslera 6, Eboue 5, Chedjou 6, Dany 5, Riera 6, Selçuk 6, Melo 6, Sneijder 5, Engin 5, Burak 5, Drogba 6. Subs: Bruma 7, Amrabat 6, Bulut 7.

REAL MADRID: Casillas 6, Ramos 6, Pepe 6, Carvajal 6, Arbeloa 6, Khedira 6, Modric 6, Di Maria 8, Isco 8, Ronaldo 9, Benzema 8. Subs: Lopez 6, Bale 6, Illaramendi 6.

MAN OF THE MATCH – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid): The irrepressible Portuguese ace was in devastating form in the second period, netting yet another treble and a stunning third and final goal of the night.

• Galatasaray Vs Real Madrid 1-6 2013 All Goals and Full Highlights 17/09/2013

UEFA Champions League Draw

Recently, the UEFA Champions League Draw was held. 32 teams were divided into 8 groups. Each group has 4 teams and only two will advance to the first knockout stage. The team in third place in each group will be qualified to enter UEFA Europa League round of 32. the teams will play home and away against each other.

UEFA Champions League Draw:

• Manchester United, the defending Premier League champions should be happy with their draw. They were able to avoid the strongest teams and they will be able to easily take the lead in the group and advance to the next round. The other clubs will have to fight for the second knockout berth.

• Real Madrid and Juventus were drawn into the same group, This made Group B one of the hardest groups this year, and it didn’t get any easier when Turkish giants Galatasaray were added to the group. Madridista are very excited and ambitious of winning the 10th title after signing in really good players, such as Gareth Bale and Isco. On the other hand, Copenhagen considered the weakest team in the group and it will struggle to make an impact.

• Group C is an interesting group, as all four clubs could make a strong case to proceed to the next step. Benfica benefited for being with a mild competitive teams that have no big history of achievements in UEFA Champions League. Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain are also likely very pleased with their draw result.

• Bayern Munich and Manchester City have to be happy about the draw. Although being in the same group wasn’t the best case scenario for both teams, but they didn’t have another top club in the group in order to turn it into a true Group of Death. The other two teams are not so lucky for being with these strong teams.

• Chelsea won the Champions League title two seasons ago. Being in this group would almost guarantee them a place of the knockout stage . Even though Schalke and Basel are both solid clubs, the Blues are undoubtedly the best team in Group E.

• This is a tricky group and it is hard to predict which team is going to the next round. Arsenal has signed in one of the best midfielders in the world Mesut Ozil and that gave them confidence. Also, Napoli singed in several good players in different positions this year. On the other hand, Marseille has a lot of experience and proved that they are not an easy Competitor. Borussia Dortmund achieved the final of UEFA champions League, but they lost the title for Bayern Munich last season.

• Group G should be wide open. Porto, Atletico Madrid and Zenit should all be confident about their chances to move on, but one of them will be left behind. Austria Wien face an uphill battle, but could still have an impact and surprises the other competitors.

• While Barcelona and AC Milan will enter the final group expecting to advance, they can’t afford to overlook Ajax and Celtic. Ajax are the defending Dutch champions, and Celtic reached the UCL knockout stages last season. This is a solid overall group and each team has to work hard in order to go to the next round.