CARSON, Calif. — Spanish champions Real Madrid kicked off a four-game U.S.
tour with a 5-1 romp of the LA Galaxy before a stadium soccer-record 30,317
crowd Thursday night at The Home Depot Center.
Gonzalo Higuaín tallied at the start, Ángel Di María and José María Callejón
added goals before halftime, Álvaro Morata netted a fourth to start the second
half, and Álex Fernández tacked on a late strike as Real ran away with the
victory.
Center back David Junior Lopes netted
one for the Galaxy, which played close to a first-choice lineup the first 45
minutes, then made 11 changes and had just one sure-fire first-teamer — Mike
Magee — on the field for the second half.
Higuaín scored just 85 seconds into the match, firing past LA 'keeper Josh
Saunders after a Di María's feed from the right flank caught Lopes flat-footed
to give the reigning Spanish league champs the early lead.
The Merengues got behind LA's backline twice more before four minutes were
gone, through left back Fabio Coentrão and Di Maria, and again in the 10th
minute through Higuaín.
Di María made it 2-0 in the 11th minute, taking a deflected pass from
teammate Lass Diarra just wide of the Galaxy box, cutting inside on his left
foot and splitting rookie defender Bryan Gaul's legs with a blast out of
Saunders' reach.
Lopes, who scored the Galaxy's goal in last week's 1-1 draw with EPL side
Tottenham, halved the deficit in the 23rd minute. David Beckham, who formerly
played for Real Madrid before his move to LA, curled a free kick from above the
box past the left post for Omar Gonzalez, who nodded it into the goalmouth.
Lopes, crashing the net, needed only a touch to knock it in.
Callejón completed a superb sequence after Higuaín's feed sliced past three
defenders to leave him an open shot on the left side of LA's box in the 36th,
giving Real Madrid a 3-1 lead at halftime.
Real also made 11 changes, one near the end of the first half and the others
at halftime, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Özil, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos,
Pepe and Sami Khedira seeing second-half action.
No sooner had the second half started, Morata buried an Esteban Granero chip
over the LA backline, giving Real a comfortable 4-1 lead in the 49th minute.
Fernández put the nail in the Galaxy's coffin with six minutes to go,
running onto an Özil's throughball to knock in Real Madrid's fifth goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo nearly added another in the 86th, but rookie Tommy Meyer
cleared the ball off the goal line.
Source LA Galaxy Official Website
Source LA Galaxy Official Website
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