Juande Ramos wins in Real Madrid debut
Soccer newsReal Madrid coach Juande Ramos made a winning debut Wednesday, sitting on the sidelines as Raul Gonzalez scored two goals to lead the Spanish club to a 3-0 Champions League victory over Zenit St Petersburg.
Raul scored his 66th European goal in the 57th minute to pass AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi as the all-time leading scorer in UEFA competitions. Raul also scored in the 25th when Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev failed to hold a cross.
Arjen Robben scored in the 50th as Madrid finished second in Group H with 12 points, one behind Juventus.
Zenit continues into the UEFA Cup after coming third with five points, while BATE Borisov drew 0-0 with Juventus on Wednesday to finish with three points.
Ramos replaced Bernd Schuster on Tuesday, two days after the German coach said it was impossible for the two-time defending Spanish champion to win Saturday’s “classico” against Barcelona. Barcelona is unbeaten in 13 league matches to hold a nine-point advantage over Madrid, which has lost three of its four past league matches.
“The most positive thing is the clear and dominating victory,” Ramos said. “The best thing is that we have gained some confidence in ourselves which will help against Barcelona.”
Ramos, who was fired by Tottenham in October after leading Spurs to their worst Premier League start, made only one significant change to the lineup, with Jerzy Dudek replacing Iker Casillas in goal.
Madrid came out with intention, and Raul scored a poacher’s goal to open after Malafeev dropped Rafael van der Vaart’s harmless cross into the box.
Madrid continued forward with Robben was orchestrating the attack from the wing. The Dutch international darted in from the right flank in the 35th to force Malafeev into a save at the near post.
“We’re going to do our best to find a system of football that works best for the football players we have,” Ramos said. “Little by little, when the players gain confidence then we will get better.”
Zenit right back Aleksandr Anyukov ran onto a loose ball inside the area in the 45th, but he skied the clear chance over goal.
“There’s no need for me to say much because after seeing a game like this it’s better to keep your mouth shut and say thank you and go away,” Zenit coach Dick Advocaat said. “The club needs to make the decision on the players that are leaving.”
Russia forward Andrei Arshavin, who is looking for a transfer to Spain from Zenit, made no impact and was substituted for Viktor Fayzulin to start the second half.
Advocaat said that he played Arshavin despite the player running a high fever.
“He was desperate to play and show himself,” Advocaat said. “Sometimes a player of that quality you have to give them a chance to show it in Europe, and for Andrei it was time.”
Malafeev denied Robben again to start the second half, before Zenit cleared Fabio Cannavaro’s header off the line in the 49th.
A minute later, Raul fed Robben down the right side and the Dutchman floated a right-footed shot inside the far corner to score.
Robben returned the favor by setting up Raul inside the area to lift the ball over Malafeev for his 66th European goal – and 64th in the European Cup – four minutes before coming off to a standing ovation.
Ramos moved Marcelo into midfield and center back Christoph Metzelder into the Brazilian’s spot. Ramos gambled with playing Marcelo out of position since he is suspended on Saturday.
“We had to look for a solution in these days that we can work against them,” the former Sevilla coach said. “It was an experiment and we wanted to see how it would work.”
Zenit responded in the 65th with Dudek saving from Fayzulin and the rebound hitting the bar. Danny headed a Zenit cross off the bar in the 79th.
Malafeev made a low save in the 87th to deny Robben, who won’t play at the Camp Nou on Saturday due to suspension.
Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Soccer news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
