Ronaldo leads Real Madrid over Chelsea

Ronaldo leads Real Madrid over Chelsea

MIAMI: Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal in each half to power Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory over Chelsea in a football friendly at Sun Life Stadium on Wednesday.

Ronaldo scored off a free kick in the 31st minute and helped seal the victory with a header in the 57th minute in front of the crowd of 67,273.

"The team played fantastic," Ronaldo said. "This is what we are looking for. We are getting better."

Marcelo Vieira also scored in the 14th minute for Real Madrid in the game which culminated the eight-team, 12-game International Champions Cup tournament.

Ramires scored the lone goal for Chelsea in the 16th minute.

"We are trying to find our fitness and get the team playing the right way," said midfielder Frank Lampard. "We could have played better."

It was a disappointing loss for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho who was facing his old club just three months after his acrimonious departure from the Spanish giants.

Mourinho left Real Madrid to rejoin Chelsea, a team he led to back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006.

Real Madrid started quickly outshooting Chelsea 7-2 in the first 27 minutes and opening the scoring on a goal by Marcelo.

Marcelo finished off a nice run to the goal by hammering a shot through the legs of defender Gary Cahill and past a diving Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Ramires tied it up just two minutes later as he sprinted past the defense before finishing off the play with soft chip over a charging goalkeeper Iker Casillas from in close.

The game was interrupted briefly in the second half when a Real Madrid fan ran onto the field and hugged Ronaldo, who held onto him until security arrived.

That was as close as anyone on the pitch would get to containing the mighty Ronaldo all night.

After missing a couple of early chances he finally connected for his first goal in the 31st minute.

Ronaldo drew a foul and then found the back of the net with a perfectly placed bending shot from 25 feet that fooled Cech.

Ronaldo connected again in the 57th minute as he sprinted towards the goal and headed in a cross from teammate 'Isco' Alarcon.

"I just tried to help my team and score goals," Ronaldo said.

The three goals allowed by Chelsea were the first allowed in three Champions Cup tournament matches.

"We had a long preseason. We travelled to Asia for two weeks, played three games here and we got one more. It is going to be an exciting season for us," Lampard said.



Earlier in the day, AC Milan won the third-place match by beating the LA Galaxy 2-0.