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Owen delighted with Real opener
Michael Owen scored his first goal for Real Madrid and earned them a vital three points against Dynamo Kiev in Tuesday night's Champions League clash at the Bernabeu. The England international struck after 35 minutes, poking home Ronaldo's cross to provide his team-mates with some welcome relief from what has been an unconvincing few months.
Their second Champions League win of the season was not achieved comfortably, however, with a spirited Kiev giving Madrid a run for their money. The Ukrainians, who had already beaten Bayer Leverkusen and Roma, were only denied an equaliser by a couple of fine saves from Iker Casillas, who continues to serve as a bulwark behind what still seems to be a creaking defence. With David Beckham out with a rib injury and Walter Samuel suspended, Madrid coach Mariano Garcia Remon pulled Ivan Helguera back into central defence, and went for broke up front with a very positive line-up.
Kiev, who arrived as group leaders with two wins under their belt, understandably opted for caution with five at the back and three in midfield. A lively opening five minutes saw Madrid throw men forward at every opportunity with Ronaldo and Luis Figo both testing Olexandr Shovkovskiy early on. In the 10th minute Zidane struck the base of Shovkovskiy's left-hand post with a free-kick from outside the area. But Real inevitably left themselves open for the swift counter-attacks of the visitors, who broke in numbers led by the tricky pairing of the Brazilian Kleber and Maksim Shatskikh, the latter of whom sent a shot inches wide after 25 minutes. Garcia Remon was forced to substitute Figo for Santiago Solari in the 29th minute, after the Portuguese star injured his thigh in a clash with a visiting defender. And Solari played a large part in setting up Owen's goal in the 34th minute, after he collected the ball deep in his own half and drove at the Kiev defence before putting Ronaldo into space wide on the left. The Brazilian's low curling cross was poked past the keeper from six yards out by the former Liverpool man's out-stretched foot. But the goal failed to settle Madrid and it was Kiev who finished the half stronger. The hosts had Casillas to thank for maintaining their lead at the interval as he made a spectacular save after Goran Gavranic beat his marker at a corner to power a near-post header goalwards. A minute after the restart Madrid were relieved to see the referee wave play on after Diogo Rincon tumbled in the area under a challenge from Michel Salgado. Home nerves continued to jangle as Casillas parried a low cross straight to the feet of Tiberiu Ghioane in the area, but the Romanian's finish was woeful. The game switched from end to end as Ronaldo burst clear down the right only to see his driven shot balloon off the keeper's legs and over the bar. Kiev coach Josef Szabo introduced another striker in Florin Cernat as Kiev pushed forward prompting Garcia Remon to withdraw Owen for the more defensive Albert Celades. Owen received a warm ovation as he left the field. Solari was enjoying a lot of space down the left and after 64 minutes saw one of his crosses fly across the face of the Kiev goal with three white shirts unable to make contact with the ball. Ten minutes later another cross from Solari was steered just over the bar by Raul, but Kiev were far from beaten. Casillas saved point-blank from Kleber soon after, following a well-worked move down Kiev's left flank. Solari nearly crowned a fine second-half performance with a goal of true quality after jinking past two defenders on the edge of the area, only to have his shot smothered by Shovkovskiy. A frantic goalmouth scramble in the Madrid area in injury time was hoisted clear to the relief of the Madrid fans who had never been able to relax until the final whistle. |
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