Real Madrid thumped Manchester City 4-1 to win the International Champions Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground courtesy of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Pepe and Denis Cheryshev, while Yaya Toure scored the consolation goal for the Citizens from the spot.
In front of a 100,000 sellout at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, Manuel Pellegrini saw his men falter against the biggest names in Europe one more time. However, for the defense of the English side, it was just a pre-season game, and they were missing their South American quartet of Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis and Fernandinho. And in the absence of defensive stalwarts Vincent Komapny and Eliaquim Managala, the Eithad outfit started with 20-year-old Jason Denayer along with 16-year-old Camronian Humphreys in defense against one of the most prolific attacks in world football at the moment.
Real Madrid played Manchester City out of the park in the first half
Manchester City threatened in the opening stages, with Raheem Sterling playing centrally following his goal-scoring debut against Roma, went down in the penalty box under the softest of contact’s from Portuguese defender Pepe, with referee waving away any appeals of a penalty.
Yaya Toure, Keylor Navas and Sergio Ramos were involved in a terrible collision, after a mix-up between Navas and Ramos, as the Costa Rican tried to punch the ball away, he took out Toure with it. David Silva then went close, blasting his effort from close range, but in the 18th minute, Delph’s dream debut came to an end, when he limped off the field, clutching his hamstring. Manchester City lost their way, following his substitution, with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo both scoring in a space of four minutes.
Dani Carvajal released Gareth Bale on the right hand side, who put in a cross in the box which was connected by an acrobatic volley from Karim Benzema who found the back of the net from 15-yards-out. Only four minutes later, Ronaldo’s run into the box was spotted by Toni Kroos, who sent in a 30-yard pass, which was brilliantly controlled by Ronaldo, before flicking it towards Joe Hart, who tried to stop the goal-bound ball with a reflex save, but the ball bounced in.
The Los Blancos went close to increasing the lead, with Bale not connecting properly to a header from close range, and Bacary Sagna putting in a fantastic covering tackle to stop the rushing Isco. However, City could not stop the Spanish giants, who scored a third in the 44th minute, courtesy of an unmarked Pepe header from six yards out, who connected with Isco’s cross.
City did peg one back, after some poor defending from Captain Sergio Ramos, who handled the ball allegedly inside the box, trying to tussle with new signing Raheem Sterling for a through ball, Yaya Toure converted the resulting penalty from the spot. However, replays showed that Ramos indeed touched the ball outside of the box.
Isco scored Real Madrid . ‘s fourth in the second half, only for it to be ruled out, after Ronaldo was incorrectly judged to be offside. Varane and Ronaldo both went close, but could not convert their respective chances. Real however did get a fourth, from 24-year-old winger Denis Cheryshev, who guided Isco’s cross into the empty net, after the Spaniard had worked his way into the box. New signing Patrick Roberts also made his debut for the Citizens in the closing stages of the match.
Here are the highlights of the match: