Goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo handed Real Madrid a 2-0 victory from their opening match of the new La Liga campaign against Cordoba at the Bernabeu this evening.
Hosting Los Blancos dominated large parts of the opening 45 minutes, but, initially at least, they found Juan Carlos in the Cordoba goal in a stubborn mood.
The 26-year-old did well to deny Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos and Ronaldo in quick succession, while the latter of that trio also headed wide early on.
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However, Carlos could only watch on as Benzema gave Madrid the lead in the 30th minute. Kroos's corner from the right was met by the leaping French striker, who planted his header into the net via the post for his first La Liga goal since March.
As the second half got underway, the away side created two openings, but Mike Havenaar failed to hit the target, while Brazilian attacker Ryder Matos shot straight at Iker Casillas.
As the half wore on, Madrid started to apply the pressure again, but just as they had done in the first half, they found Carlos in good form. On the hour mark, £64m signing James Rodriguez had the chance to score on his La Liga debut from a narrow angle, but Carlos denied him with an instinctive stop.
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Then, up the other end, substitute Xisco bundled the ball into the Madrid net from close range, but his celebrations were cut short by the referee assistant's flag for offside.
With time running out, Gareth Bale had a good chance to secure the outcome for Madrid when he met Ronaldo's cross, but the Welshman could only head straight at Carlos.
It wasn't to prove a costly miss, though, because in the final minute Ronaldo burst away from his marker, before going on to drill the ball into the corner of the net from 20 yards out to seal the points.
Liam Apicella
