Ruud brace in Kiev rout
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Real Madrid produced a five-star performance as they humbled 10-man Kiev in their Champions League clash on Tuesday night.

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Raul led the line superbly with two goals apiece while winger Jose Antonio Reyes added the other in a consumate display by the Spanish giants.

Artem Milevskiy scored a consolation goal for the Ukraine outfit but it was a case of too little too late as Kiev failed to take the earlier chances that came their way.

Real attacked from the onset as both Mahamadou Diarra and Roberto Carlos called opposition goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy into action in the early stages.

But for all their attacking prowess the Spanish side were far from defensively sound and they almost went behind as Milevskiy was denied by Iker Casillas after being played through by Valentin Belkevich.

But Van Nistelrooy gave his side the lead in the 20th minute as he reacted quickest after Shovkovskiy could only parry Roberto Carlos' fearsome piledriver.

The hosts continued to surge forward and Raul added a second in the 27th minute as he headed home a pinpoint cross from Reyes. The on-loan Arsenal winger then got on the scoresheet himself with a super curling effort just before the interval which put the game beyond doubt.

To their credit, Kiev never gave up and continued to pose a threat to Los Galacticos. And they were finally rewarded for their efforts when Milevskiy pounced after Casillas could only block Carlos Correa's shot.

Reyes made way for David Beckham and the right-sided midfielder was almost the architect of a goal immediately as his cross found Van Nistelrooy who headed the ball narrowly wide of the upright.

Raul made it 4-0 after an hour gone as he capitalised a poor back pass from Goran Gavrancic to glide past the keeper for his second of the night.

Van Nistelrooy then won his side a penalty after being hacked down by Shovkovskiy. The goalkeeper was subsequently sent off while the Dutchman slammed home his spotkick to complete a memorable night for Madrid.

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