Real Madrid 1-0 Racing Santander: Higuain Strike Enough

Real Madrid 1-0 Racing Santander - Lineups/Stats
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Real Madrid maintained their 100 percent record at home in La Liga this season with a slender 1-0 win over Racing Santander. Gonzalo Higuain’s solitary first half strike was enough to settle the game, although there were two goals controversially disallowed for offside.  

Manuel Pellegrini’s men assumed control of the contest right from the start but with Racing adopting a compact defensive approach, the first shot didn’t arrive until the ninth minute, although it fell to the visitors. Luis Garcia ran onto Oscar Serrano’s squared ball but slipped as he pulled the trigger and blazed his shot over the bar.

That sparked the Merengues to life and two minutes later, Esteban Granero flashed a piledriver on the edge of the box just wide. Just moments after that, Madrid came even closer when Xabi Alonso’s perfectly placed curling shot from 25 yards out cannoned off the foot of the post with Tono well beaten.

Kaka was next to queue up for a shot and he did brilliantly on 18 minutes when he cut in from the left and arrowed in a shot towards the top left corner but Tono dived full stretch to tip it over the bar.

The Racing goalkeeper had to be called upon to make a double save a few minutes later, first flapping Alvaro Arbeloa’s deflected cross onto the post before fisting out Royston Drenthe’s thunderbolt rebound.

But on 21 minutes, the intense pressure paid off. Kaka’s cross forced Tono off his line to palm it out, but the ball fell kindly to Ezequiel Garay, who nodded it back towards goal and Higuain was there to bundle it over from close range.

The ‘Men in White’ should have doubled their advantage just before the half hour mark. Karim Benzema was put through on goal by Kaka but the Frenchman failed in his attempt to slip the ball under the on-rushing Tono. Benz then thought he had won a penalty when he was hauled down by Marc Torrejon following a short freekick, but the referee saw nothing wrong in the tackle.

Momo Tchite gave the home fans a scare on 36 minutes when he sneaked in between Garay and Marcelo and bore down on goal, but dragged his shot well wide at the near post. Luis Garcia had an even better chance five minutes before the break. Tchite picked Pepe’s pocket at the byline and pulled back his center to the former Atletico Madrid forward, who got it horribly wrong when his miscue sent the ball into the stands.

Racing’s late surge and strong finish to the half left the Santiago Bernabeu faithful frustrated after watching and enjoying their side utterly dominate the opening 30 minutes or so.

El Pipita leaves Racing in dismay

Los Blancos again began brightly in the second half and Pepe decided to try his luck five minutes into the restart when he picked up a short corner and rifled in a shot from the tightest of angles, which sailed harmlessly over.

There was controversy in the 55th minute when Benzema put Madrid two up. He got to the end of Granero’s low cross and flicked the ball past Tono from close range. The Madrid bench, fans and Cristiano Ronaldo up in the VIP box celebrated but as the players began to head back to the center circle, the referee made a late decision change and annulled the goal having adjudged that the French youngster was in an offside position.

Kaka then saw a header from a Granero freekick saved acrobatically by Tono, before Marcelo’s blistering low drive from 30 yards out was gathered by the Verdiblancos shot-stopper.

Madrid, again, should have buried the issue on 70 minutes. Drenthe robbed the ball off Henrique after a misunderstanding with his goalkeeper, charged down to the byline and cut the ball back to Higuain in the middle, but the Argentine’s shot was smothered by Tono, who made amends for his part in the mistake.

As the clock ticked down, Madrid again started losing control of proceedings and they almost paid dearly on 77 minutes when the Cantabrians thought they had equalized.  Luis Garcia’s clever backheel found Sergio Canales and the 18-year-old turned and drilled in a low shot past Casillas, but before any celebrations could take place, the referee blew his whistle for offside.

Neither side could create anything meaningful after that but it was the hosts who had the last chance of the game deep into injury when Rafael van der Vaart curled in a freekick but Tono easily punched it clear.

Madrid held on for their sixth victory in six league games at the Bernabeu so far this term but yet again, it was another unconvincing result.

KS Leong, Goal.com