Cristiano Ronaldo, who is serving a 5-match domestic ban after pushing a referee in the Spanish Supercopa match against Barcelona last month, was back at Real Madrid to kick start the Champions League campaign and there is no way that the day could have been better for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Real Madrid 3-0 APOEL this is what the scoreline reflected at the end of the fixture at Santiago Bernabeu and as expected, Cristiano Ronaldo continued his incredible form with a brace while giving a clear heads up that Real Madrid is looking for a Champions League hat-trick.
The Zinedine Zidane’s side, without Karim Benzema, has been held to a couple of draws in their two La Liga matches at home this season, but Cristiano Ronaldo ensured there was no chance of a repeat against the Cypriot outfit.
He only needed 12 minutes to get back to scoring goals in the competition in which he is also the all-time top scorer, after meeting Gareth Bale’s low cross to arrow home.
Real Madrid continued to monopolize possession throughout the first half but Ronaldo was destined for a double just seconds after the half time. However, a volley from Dani Carvajal’s cross deflected off the woodwork and the referee suggested that the ball never crossed the line. (more on this later)
However, in the 51st minute, Cristiano Ronaldo did register a brace from the penalty spot by firing low to Boy Waterman’s right after Roberto Lago, the APOEL defender was punished for a handling the ball.
While the 2-0 scoreline was enough to put the visitors to bed, Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos rubber-stamped the victory for over the Cypriot champions with his scrappy overhead kick in the 61st minute.
Things just couldn’t be better for Cristiano Ronaldo as he now has 91 goals for Real Madrid in Champions League and in the coming games he would be looking to make it a 100.
Moreover, he also left Lionel Messi behind in the tally of scoring the most number of home goals in the competition as the 51st-minute strike was his 55th home goal in UEFA Champions League, while Messi has 54 such goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo has an obsession with scoring goals and given the fact that Portuguese forward wants to stand out above all others, always, and against APOEL he had the perfect opportunity to do so, made him lose his temper on the referee when the actual culprit was Science.
In the initial minutes of the second half, anticipating a cross fantastically as well as slipping between two defenders, Cristiano Ronaldo got his left foot on the ball, which then bounced towards the APOEL goal. While towards the crossbar, the ball deflected down onto the line and it looked like to have just about crossed it.
It didn’t quite cross the line though and the goal-line technology clear agreed to the point, however, Ronaldo was clear: he thought that the ball had gone in But not even the ranting, as well as arm-waving modern-day great like Cristiano Ronaldo, could beat technological innovation.
However, his despair at each failed opportunity was still surprising!!
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