TORONTO – Real Madrid played gracious house guest at BMO Field for 13 minutes before breezing to a 5-1 win over Toronto FC on Friday night.
The much-anticipated exhibition match was played in front of a sellout crowd of 22,089, who paid a minimum of $125 to witness the Spanish giants open their two-match North American summer tour. Madrid will play D.C. United at FedEx Field on Sunday afternoon in Washington.
After months of speculation over which of the high-priced Galacticos would play in Toronto, Madrid head coach Manuel Pellegrini delivered with a starting 11 that included the debut of Brazilian Kaka, French striker Karin Benzema and FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo’s first touch was greeted by a mix of boos and cheers. The Portuguese national team captain swayed the crowd to cheers a few minutes later with a series of stepovers and fancy- feet deceptions. All credit to Toronto defender Marvell Wynne, who did not take the bait.
“You see them on TV all the time, you know their moves, you know what they’re going to do,” Wynne said of marking Ronaldo. “Nothing is really surprising, but when they do it, they do it so well it’s almost unstoppable.”
As stated, it took 13 minutes for the visitors to open the scoring on a bit of bad luck in the home team’s penalty area. A shot on goal by Kaka was blocked by a Reds defender but fell to a waiting Raul, who switched feet before burying a right-footed shot under the bar behind Stefan Frei.
The class of Madrid was front and centre again in the 19th minute when Ronaldo and Benzema played give-and-go with the Portuguese winger slotting home a right-footed shot inside the near post of Frei. The ‘it’s-so-easy’ shrug and fist-pump celebration to the south-end supporters earned him no friends but it was what many had come to see.
The third Madrid goal came when failure to clear a corner-kick proved deadly. An in-swinging cross from Raul Albiol found Christoph Metzelder alone at the far post to nod an easy header back in to the path of Raul, who scored his second of the half.
Even at 3-0 TFC pushed the ball looking to register at least one on the evening but the organized Madrid back four and the mobility of goalkeeper Iker Casillas stamped out each opportunity.
“I thought we started really well for 15 minutes and I think it gave them a kick in the backside and then they decided to play,” Toronto coach Chris Cummins said. “We conceded the three goals quick, and their movement, their passing, their ability to get forward and get goals was fantastic.”
The first-half came to an end with what the stadium believed would be a trademark Ronaldo free-kick on the edge of the TFC box. However, midfielder Guti intervened and curled a shot high and wide. For his efforts he was given a round of boos from the flashbulb-popping crowd.
Toronto made four changes at the half with Goalkeeper Brian Edwards, forwards Chad Barrett and Amadou Sanyang and Nick Garcia coming in for Guevara, Carl Robinson and Adrain Serioux.
Along with Kaka, Madrid coach Pellegrini used the exhibition in Toronto to debut one of the late summer signings, former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso. Alonso was pleased to get into the match in the second half and applauded the atmosphere at BMO Field.
“It is something Madrid can be proud of, to come here to Toronto and be well received by the fans,” Alonso said. “To bring different football teams to Canada will open doors.”
Real made it 4-0 in the 65th minute when summer signing Benzema one-timed an Alvaro Negrado pass by Edwards.
The capacity crowd roared to life in the 75th minute when coach Chris Cummins brought on fan-favourite Danny Dichio. The Reds responded just seconds later when an O’Brian White shot was deflected by goalkeeper Jerzey Dudek in to the path of Brampton, ON, native Gabe Gala. While the score line heavily-favoured the visitors, it didn’t stop the home team from celebrating the small victory as the team mobbed Gala.
“It was exciting for Gabe (Gala) because he works so hard and he doesn’t get a lot of minutes,” goalkeeper Brian Edwards said of the lone strike. “You don’t see many dogpiles after one-goal in a four-nil game but it was well-deserved.”
The party would be short-lived as Dutch substitute Arjen Robben made it a five-goal night for Madrid thanks to an individual effort.
“It is always nice to score a goal, but in the end it is about playing well,” Robben said post-match. “There is a lot of competition. I think we played well in both halves and I think overall it was a great game.”
The referee put an end to the game just moments in to time added on and the much-anticipated summer spectacle of Real Madrid in Toronto provided a combined six goals.
Toronto gets back to reality next Saturday when they host DC United at BMO Field.
“You’re only going to learn off the best players in the world and the best coaches in the world,” coach Cummins said, adding he was eager to use the tape of the game as a learning tool. “Look at [Cristiano] Ronaldo, what does he do on the ball, where does he drop himself, does he go long, does he come short? You have to learn off that.”
Scoring Summary:
RMD — Raul 1 (unassisted) 13
RMD — Cristiano Ronaldo 1 (Karim Benzema ) 19
RMD — Raul 2 (Christoph Metzelder 1, Raul Albiol 1) 26
RMD — Karim Benzema 1 (Alvaro Negrado ) 65
TOR — Gabe Gala 1 (unassisted) 75
RMD — Arjen Robben 1 (Karim Benzema ) 86
Lineups:
Real Madrid — Iker Casillas (Jerzey Dudek 46), Royston Drenthe (Wesley Sneijder 80), Raul Albiol (Esteban Granero 46), Christoph Metzelder (Ezequiel Garay 80), Alvaro Arbeloa (Pepe 46), Kaka (Miguel Torres 46), Guti (Xabi Alonso 63), Lassana Diarra, Karim Benzema, Raul (Alvaro Negrado 63), Cristiano Ronaldo (Arjen Robben 62).
Substitutes Not Used: Antonio Adan, Gonzalo Higuain
Toronto FC — Stefan Frei (Brian Edwards 46), Marvell Wynne, Emmanuel Gomez (Marco Velez 80), Adrian Serioux (Nick Garcia 46), Jim Brennan (Fuad Ibrahim 82), Dwayne De Rosario, Amado Guevara (Chad Barrett 46) (Gabe Gala 72), Sam Cronin, Carl Robinson (Amadou Sanyang 46), Ali Gerba (O’Brian White 63), Pablo Vitti (Danny Dichio 74),
Substitutes Not Used: none