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Posts Tagged ‘Brandao’s’

Marseille were undone by the brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo as they crashed out of the Champions League with a 3-1 Group C defeat to Real Madrid at Stade Velodrome.

The French side needed to win and hope that Milan failed to beat Zurich but, while the Rossoneri were held in Switzerland, Marseille could not keep their part of the bargain in an entertaining clash.

Ronaldo (pictured) hit two classy goals near the start and end of the match, with Raul Albiol also on target for Los Merengues.

Lucho Gonzalez had earlier equalised for L'OM but he turned from hero to zero after missing a penalty that would have made it 2-2 with 21 minutes left.

The match got off to a cracking start with Real taking a fifth-minute lead thanks to a wonderful Ronaldo free-kick.

The former Manchester United forward came in for strong criticism following his petulant antics during Madrid's 4-2 Liga win over Almeria at the weekend, but he atoned for his histrionics and red card with a spectacular shot from all of 35 yards that rose, dipped and curled into the top left.

Marseille levelled six minutes later when Lucho smashed the ball into the left side of the goal after Albiol half-cleared Brandao's far-post header from Taye Taiwo's left-wing cross.

The hosts thought they had taken the lead on the quarter hour but Brandao was just offside when he raced clear on to Mamadou Niang's pass.

At the other end manic scenes following a corner saw Madrid denied a second by the woodwork (from Ronaldo's header), keeper Steve Mandanda (from Pepe's drive) and their old-boy Gabriel Heinze (from Sergio Ramos flying in).

Minutes Ronaldo headed Ramos's cross over when he should have scored after a scintillating break from Real.

Aside from a lull midway through the first half, the match was played at break-neck speed and kicked back into life on 42 minutes, when a Madrid counter saw Rafael van der Vaart play Gonzalo Higuain through only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle from Laurent Bonnart.

Madrid were turning it on now, and in first-half stoppage time Marcelo put wide as he slipped following some great skill to get clear of the home defence, while Ronaldo stung Mandanda's palms with another audacious free-kick.

The second half continued in a similar vein, with Iker Casillas and Pepe combining to deny Brandao after Niang played him through, while at the other end Van der Vaart forced Mandanda to save and Marcelo fired over after another excellent pass from Van der Vaart.

Manuel Pellegrini's side re-took the lead on the hour mark, defender Albiol drilling the ball home after Van der Vaart's corner was half-cleared by Heinze but, six minutes later, the Spaniards handed Marseille a great chance to swing the game back their way.

A rush of blood from Casillas saw him clatter into Niang on the right side of the Real penalty area, with the Senegalese probably too wide to score.

Indeed, Casillas's covering team-mates probably spared him a red card and the delay that followed as skipper Niang was helped off with a shoulder injury aided Madrid further as, with a three-minute gap between foul and penalty, Lucho blasted the spot-kick off the crossbar.