Real Madrid claimed a convincing International Champions Cup victory on Monday as they beat Inter Milan 3-0 in Guangzhou’s Tianhe Stadium at the pre-season tournament.

Jese Rodriguez opened the scoring for Los Blancos midway through the first-half before Raphael Varane grabbed the second soon after the break.

James Rodriguez then topped things off just before the 90 minutes were up as he curled a wonderful free-kick home from 30 yards.

Had it not been for Samir Handanovic’s heroics in the Inter goal, it could have been a truly humiliating evening for the Italians, who were dominated in the main by their Spanish opponents.

ESPN FC confirmed the result:

Inter could have been 1-0 up in the opening couple of minutes, but Mauro Icardi mistimed his jump when he would have had a free header on goal.

In fact, the Serie A outfit dominated the early possession but could not find the opener. After the opening 10 minutes, Real started to get forward more, and Inter had Handanovic to thank for a string of excellent stops.

First he saved from Ronaldo, then from a vicious free-kick from the Portuguese star and finally a fantastic double save from Isco and Jese in the 23rd minute.

However, the Slovenian could do little about Jese’s effort when the 22-year-old made it 1-0 just before the half-hour mark.

Receiving the ball on the right of the penalty area after a floated ball from Marcelo, Jese jinked inside and fired home a left-footed finish from eight yards, per Footy Vines:

Real continued to dominate as the half wore on, but Inter had their chances to equalise. Mateo Kovacic slalomed through three challenges in the 44th minute but his shot went straight at Keylor Navas.

The Costa Rican was then called into action again deep into first-half added time as he tipped away Hernanes’ free-kick to preserve Real’s narrow lead at the break.

Los Blancos boss Rafael Benitez made several changes at half-time, withdrawing Navas, Gareth Bale, Ronaldo, Pepe and Sergio Ramos, and handing Kiko Casilla his debut, while also throwing on Varane, Nacho, Lucas Vazquez and Denis Cheryshev.

It was a sluggish start to the second period from both sides, which was unsurprising given the intense heat and humidity, per AS:

Real were still the superior side, though, and Cheryshev saw a stunning effort sail just over the bar three minutes after the break.

It was the fresher substitutes that doubled the lead for Real in the 56th minute when centre-back Varane showed the finishing of a striker to turn Vazquez’s cross home neatly after Inter failed to clear from a corner, per FootballFacts101:

Inter could not find any way to get back into the game, and in the 88th minute, second-half substitute Rodriguez produced a free-kick from the very top drawer having been earlier denied by Handanovic, per 90min:

It was an ominous display from Real, who ran down the clock to claim their 3-0 victory and Inter can have few complaints over the margin of defeat.

Apart from Handanovic, few of the Inter players covered themselves in glory, while Los Blancos have plenty to be positive about after a fine display. 

 

Grades  

Jese Rodriguez: A 

Jese was a thorn in the Inter defence’s side for much of the first half, linking up well with Bale and Ronaldo in the front three.

His goal was taken terrifically well and the youngster is proving that he could have a significant role to play in the upcoming La Liga season having only been used sparingly in 2014-15.

 

Samir Handanovic: A –

Inter conceded three goals but Handanovic cannot be blamed for any of them, and he should be given much praise for keeping the margin of defeat down.

Called into action often on a difficult night for the Italians, the 31-year-old pulled off a few spectacular saves and marshaled his defence as best as possible.

 

Reaction

Reaction to follow.

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1JKLSOQ
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J