Real Madrid kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 victory over newcomers BATE Borisov.
Ramos and Van Nistelrooy on target in 2-0 win
Real Madrid kicked off their UEFA Champions League campaign with a 2-0 victory over newcomers BATE Borisov of Belarus.
Sergio Ramos fired Real ahead early on and Ruud van Nistelrooy grabbed a second after the break to secure a comfortable win.
BATE started the match with a packed defence but they were carved open time and again as Real immediately found their rhythm.
Real thought they had taken the lead after just two minutes when van Nistelrooy fired past Sergey Veremko, but the flag was correctly raised for offside against the Dutchman.
Guti then clipped a shot over onrushing goalkeeper Veremko but wide of the post, before the inevitable goal arrived in the 11th minute.
A cleverly worked corner resulted in Guti drilling a precise pass to Sergio Ramos, and the right-back kept his composure with a neat finish.
Van Nistelrooy almost made it 2-0 as he struck a powerful effort wide from distance, but as the first half wore on mistakes began to creep into Real's forward play and a number of simple passes went astray.
BATE struggled to find any fluency when they did have possession and an ambitious attempt by Mikhail Sivakov to lob Iker Casillas from deep inside his own half highlighted just how difficult they would find it to score.
Superiority
Striker Vladislav Mirchev toiled away admirably up front with absolutely no support, and he almost conjured something out of the blue when he drove wide from 25 yards.
Real Madrid looked to reassert their superiority as the second half kicked off with Arjen Robben causing problems down the left, but Rafael van der Vaart's goalbound shot on 50 minutes was blocked by the heel of team-mate Raul.
Ramos came close to doubling his own tally as he forced Veremko into a fine save, before van Nistelrooy gave Real the two-goal cushion they craved after 57 minutes.
The former Manchester United man tapped home from close range after Veremko had pulled off an acrobatic stop to deny Raul.
Any chance of a remarkable fightback then disappeared completely five minutes later when Anri Khagush was sent off for a foul on Van der Vaart.
Real controlled matters for the final 20 minutes but were unable to add to their lead against tiring opponents as Gonzalo Higuain missed a glorious opening.
Bernd Schuster will realise that Real will need to improve against Group H's other sides Juventus and Zenit St Petesburg to progress to the last 16, but he will be relieved to have negotiated a potential banana skin.
| Real Madrid |
Team Statistics |
BATE Borisov |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 9 |
Shots on Target |
1 |
| 13 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 7 |
Blocked Shots |
0 |
| 9 |
Corners |
2 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
21 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
1 |
| 86 |
Passing Success |
70 |
| 16 |
Tackles |
20 |
| 87.5 |
Tackles Success |
70 |
| 68.7 |
Possession |
31.3 |
| 61 |
Territorial Advantage |
39 |
|
