Ronaldo Comes On As Torres Leaves, Atletico Beat Real 2-0
Fernando Torres started the first leg of the round of 16 Copa del Rey match against arch rivals Real Madrid while Cristiano Ronaldo started from the bench. Atletico beat the current La Liga champions by two goals in a contest where chances were hard to come by.
Fernando Torres, on loan till the end of the season from AC Milan, played his first match after returning to the Vicente Calderon. The hype around his return was obvious as he had previously been the top scorer for Atletico for five consecutive seasons before he left for Liverpool. Atletico have already sold 2,000 replica shirts within 24 hours of Torres after being paraded in front of the adoring 45,000 fans last Sunday.
Atletico were not value for money in the first hour of the match. Torres was not influential at all. He did not produce any goal scoring moment during the time he was on the pitch. In fact Atletico could only produce a single goal scoring opportunity in the first hour of the match.
Torres was substituted for Koke around the 60-minute mark, minutes later Atletico scored and Real Madrid brought on Ronaldo. The first goal was a result of a precisely taken penalty from Raul Garcia after he was brought down in the box by Sergio Ramos. Atletico doubled their lead on the 76th minute when Gimenez de Vargas headed in from a corner.
Real Madrid too did not create too many chances to score either. Sergio Ramos headed a ball towards the goal in the very first minute of the match which was saved. Gareth Bale had a goal disallowed because of offside. Real coach Carlo Ancelotti justified not starting Ronaldo by saying that the superstar was fatigued.
"Cristiano was a little bit tired and he might have suffered during the match", Ancelotti clarified in the post-match press conference. The return leg will be played at the Bernabeu on Jan. 15th. The winner of this match will face either FC Barcelona or Elche in the quarter finals.
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