Malaga, Nov 30 (IANS/EFE) Real Madrid won its 16th straight match -- a historic record -- to down the hometown Malaga squad unbeaten at La Rosaleda stadium until now.
From the opening minutes, Malaga handed over the initiative and the ball to Real Madrid.
Malaga on defence had Rosales on the right and the Ivory Coast's Arthur Boka on the left to stop Welsh striker Gareth Bale, who nonetheless got past them for the first goal attempt of the game -- blocked, however, by Cameroon goalkeeper Kameni.
Real Madrid continued to dominate until the critical moment when Cristiano Ronaldo took a midfield steal down the left for a quick cross to Karim Benzema, who got it past Kameni to make it 1-0 at minute 18.
The second half started out like the first -- Real Madrid attacked and dominated but didn't score. Former Malaga player Isco almost scored but Kameni defended and kept Malaga in the running.
With the two teams' energy seeming to dwindle, the locals were hit with the added problem of central defender Sergio Sanchez's injury.
But then a stolen ball at midfield by Madrid had lethal consequences. Cristiano Ronaldo took a long pass and flicked it over to Bale, whose powerful right-foot shot at minute 83 was impossible for Kameni to control this time and upped the score to 2-0.
The game was really over, but Malaga succeeded in a last-gasp attempt to get on the scoreboard in injury time when Santa Cruz took Boka's cross from the left and headed the ball into the net at minute 90 to make it 2-1.
And that was it: Madrid had strung together a record 16 victories while Malaga lost its first home-team game.
--IANS/EFE
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