PEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! THAT'S THAT. APOEL Nicosia 0-6 Real Madrid.
Los Blancos have run riot here in Cyprus. They looked on top of their game from the get-go and opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. And when it rains, it pours.
The defending champions bullied APOEL on their home turf and buried their hopes 6 feet deep.
That's it from the yap centre. Gotta rest these fired up limbs of mine, thank you so much APOEL defence.
92' Ceballos finds Asensio on the left side of the box. He can't go past the defenders but wins a throw-in. Madrid still trying to get ahead and score one more.
90' Dani Carvajal gets a yellow card for time-wasting. He will miss the next match. Rather silly there. But it's hard to believe that it was pre-meditated. There is no point to it anyway.
89' I feel like the ref should just blow the whistle as soon as the clock hits 90 and just put APOEL out of their misery. If this was a boxing match, the post-match presentations would've been done half an hour earlier and I would be napping right now.
84' Asensio leading the counterattack as it is 6 on 2 in their favour. But Asensio's squared ball is not finished off and APOEL break on the counter. End to end stuff suddenly. But APOEL are wasteful in possession once again and lose out on a good opportunity to pull one back.
83' Aloneftis tries to cross one in from the left flank after APOEL break on a counter. But his cross is too close to the near post and Casilla has to flick it over the bar for a corner. Ronaldo clears the subsequent corner out.
81' Horrible freekick and Real Madrid break on the counter again. Asensio surges ahead to find Theo Hernandez in space down the left side of the box. He squares it to Ceballos who slides to reach it but it lands awkwardly for him and the ball is chipped over the bar.
74' Carvajal skips past 2 defenders and then tries to find Mayoral who tries to feed it back to him. Unfortunately, APOEL clears for a corner. The corner is rubbish though.
71' Varane with an enterprising run down the centre, goes past 3 defenders before finding Asensio on the left side of the area. Asensio's shot is blocked out for a corner by Perez. Lucas Vasquez is flagged offside as he tries to make a run in behind the APOEL defence.
69' You gotta give it to the APOEL fans who are still singing their hearts out in the stands despite the terrible performance they are bearing witness to.
67' Cristiano Ronaldo is brought down on the right flank. The ref keeps his cards inside his pocket but awards Madrid a freekick. Asensio will swing this one in.
62' Ronaldo and Benzema have crashed into each other and both of them seem to be in some pain. Carvajal was crossing the ball in from the right and both attackers wanted it for themselves.
54'CRISTIANO RONALDO STRIKES AGAIN! HORRENDOUS DEFENDING FROM APOEL!
Rueda with a terrible and weak backpass to Perez which barely even crawls into the box. Benzema gets to it but Perez somehow sticks a leg out to deflect it into the path of Ronaldo who shoots with his left foot without thinking twice and finds the unguarded net with ease.
53' Vinicius tries to stay on his feet after he is crashed into by Modric but he eventually hits the floor and APOEL get a freekick near the centre of the pitch.
APOEL fans are trying their best to get their team going but the gear seems to have jammed. Ronaldo wins the ball back near the half and forays into the danger area before playing a one-two with Benzema. Ronaldo finds himself in adequate space on the left side of the box but his shot is agonizingly wide as he fails to add to his tally.
49' RONALDO GETS HIS GOAL! BEAUTIFULLY SET UP BY MARCELO!
Lucas Vasquez drags one back from the right wing to find Asensio on the edge of the area. Asensio shifts the ball to his left foot and swings to the left wing to find Marcelo. Marcelo sees Ronaldo at the far post and finds him with precision and Ronaldo leaps high into the air and pumps it into the netting. This is brutality.
47' Real Madrid seem to have decided to go easy on the tempo a bit here. But that's only fair. What a scintillating first-half performance it was from the men in white.
What an onslaught! Real Madrid looking like the juggernaut that ran away with the Champions League title as all their attackers seem to be firing on all cylinders. Benzema seems to have found his scoring boots again. Ronaldo has been heavily involved in 2 goals and has an assist. The same goes for Toni Kroos. Luca Modric had earlier started the scoring with a wondrous strike.
45' Karim Benzema scores again! Unselfish from Ronaldo!
APOEL were attacking just 20 seconds back. Zahid feeds Morais down the centre. He frees up Lago on the left wing. Lago then slides it to Aloneftis who surges into the area from the left and tries to drive one into the area. But it gets deflected out for a corner. Casilla runs out and punches the corner clear as Real Madrid are out on the counter. Toni Kroos plays a delectable through ball down the centre as Benzema squares it to Ronaldo. Ronaldo shimmies past his man and then selflessly returns the ball to Benzema who slots it into the back of the net with ease and grace. Real Madrid are looking ominous as ever!
Asensio takes the corner. 3 APOEL defenders attack Varane who leaps higher than all of them to head it ahead and Nacho has enough time to flick it past Perez to put this game to bed. Relentless, resolute attacking football from the Champions.
Kroos and Ronaldo play a delightful one-two in the centre of the pitch as Benzema makes a brilliant run through the centre to drift into space. Kroos then plays a perfectly weighted through ball into his path and Benzema takes his time and goes right to score only his 3rd goal of the season. The champions are indeed starting to look like themselves now.
37' Marcelo teaming up with Asensio on the left flank. Marcelo has the chance to put one into the box but he bottles it and Madrid will have to retreat and try again.
35' Nacho brings Pote down once again on the right wing. Very reckless from Nacho and he gets a final warning. That should have been rewarded with yellow. Nacho has been far too dastardly tonight.
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