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| Higuain showed the way to a therapeutic victory |
Varane and Kaka took the places of the suspended Pepe and Ozil in the starting lineup, and Mourinho opted to use Higuain and Benzema together in attack. Real Sociedad were wary and hardly attacked, while the Madridistas continuously looked to finish them off. Higuain scored a first-touch goal in the opening minutes after receiving a pass from Benzema (6').
Cristiano Ronaldo nearly tallied the second on the 28-minute mark and also two minutes after that, but his finishing touch was only slightly off on both counts. The Portuguese player eventually netted it in the 32nd minute by nutmegging Bravo.
Real Sociedad did what they could to keep the Whites at bay, but a third soon came when a ball cleared by Ramos was masterfully controlled by Benzema and sent to the net with a lobbed shot (40'). The visitors nevertheless managed to net a strike through a Xabi Prieto shot on the box line that went in after hitting Ramos in the head.
Khedira sent the ball to the box in the opening minutes of the second half and Benzema scored over Bravo (49'). Ronaldo netted a fifth a few minutes later when Higuain managed to serve him a ball on the goal-line (56').
The team relaxed a bit from then on and Real Sociedad managed to enter Casillas' box on occasion without posing much of a threat. A Griezmann shot was easily grabbed by the goalkeeper and Mourinho decided to make Sahin and Coentrao come on for Khedira and Benzema. The Portuguese player came close to tallying a sixth for the team, missing the target only by inches.
Youth teamer Jese replaced Ronaldo on the 80-minute mark and a couple of minutes later Varane's chance to score was cleared between the posts by a defender. The match started to die down in the final minutes with the Whites starting to concentrate on Tuesday's UCL match against APOEL.
Summary
Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu
Attendance:
Goals: 1-0, m.6: Higuaín. 2-0, m.32: Cristiano. 3-0, m.40: Benzema; 3-1, m.41: Xabi Prieto; 4-1, m.49: Benzema; 5-1, m.56: Cristiano.
