Champions League Group Stage - Game 2 - Real Madrid (Away)
So we set out to the Bernabeu, and the emphasis is on defence. Hopefully we don’t embarrass ourselves, but I can’t be expecting much here.
We knew we were in for a game when Ronaldo took a vicious shot after just 20 seconds, but Olsen was up to the task of deflecting it behind.
The resulting corner was cleared, and Coentrão took an ambitious long shot, which was destined for the net until Olsen make an absolutely ridiculous save to avert the threat. All of this inside the first minute!
Once again we cleared the corner, but it was lobbed back in, and Ronaldo headed towards the bottom left - but Olsen flung himself in front of it, before Helander cleared to safety.
Olsen made a couple more saves as we made it to the 20 minute mark unscathed.
Forsberg took our first shot, but it was comfortable for Casillas.
26 minutes, and Ronaldo cut in from the right and breezed by our defence, but Olsen held his goal bound effort.
In the 36th minute we attempted a counter attack but were caught out with short numbers at the back, and the ball made it’s way swiftly to Ronaldo - inside the box with just the keeper to beat. He nailed his shot, yet Olsen got a hand to it and deflected it onto the woodwork, where it bounced to safety!
Our heroic keeper was finally beaten in the 40th minute, when a near post Kroos corner found Ronaldo, who hammered it home.
We made it to half time without any further damage, and I told the boys they had been unlucky, and to keep up the good work.
In the 48th minute, Cuadrado ghosted by Ricardinho and had a shot from just a couple of yards out, but Olsen managed to keep it out, before Johansson cleared the ball for him.
Some shocking defence just two minutes later allowed a throw in to roll all the way into our area to Modric, who passed along the 6 yard box line for Cuadrado to cream his shot into the net - except Olsen had other ideas, saving that effort too!
A 61st minute corner came after Possebon and Tinnerholm had been replaced by Adu and Mater, and it was cleared to Cuadrado, who raced into the box and finally beat Olsen. Unfortunately for him and Madrid, he couldn’t beat the woodwork.
Eriksson replaced Rosenberg up top for the last 20 minutes.
But disaster struck 3 minutes later, as Thern brought Benzema down in the area to concede a very soft penalty. The commentators thought it was a dive, and I agreed. Ronaldo stepped up and hit it straight into the top left corner, just millimetres beyond Olsen’s outstretched hand.
In the 79th minute, we finally tested Casillas properly, as he was forced to make an excellent double save from Eriksson and Molins.
From there, Real were happy to just sit back, and there were no further incidents.
I was very pleased with the display, and felt that we were unlucky to lose by two goals - or Olsen was, at least. His rating was as high as 8.3 during the second half, but went down to 7.6 by full time after conceding an unstoppable penalty - hardly fair, in my opinion, as he deserved man of the match for sure, Ronaldo scored off a corner and a penalty.
MOM: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid - 9.0, 2G, 0A)
Best Malmö player: Robin Olsen (7.6, 18 saves)
Galatasaray drew 1-1 with Basel in the other group match, meaning we are second for the time being.
