Thaindian News

Madrid, Nov 23 (IANS) Real Madrid gave a very good account of themselves by thrashing Dinamo Zagreb 6-2 at home and ensuring the top spot in Group D of the Champions League qualifying stage.

Madrid went into the game Tuesday with a 100 percent record in the competition, which contrasted sharply with their rivals who had lost their four group stage games.

Jose Mourinho took the opportunity to rest Cristiano Ronaldo for the game and started talented Nuri Sahin, but the Portuguese striker was hardly missed as Madrid wrapped the game up in the first 10 minutes, Xinhua reported.

Karim Benzema opened the scoring after two minutes, Javier Callejon doubled the lead after six minutes and Gonzalo Higuain added a third on nine minutes, as Madrid took total control.

Mesut Ozil scored the fourth when he tapped home a rebound after 10 minutes and the game became a question of how many goals Madrid could score and whether or not their rivals could avoid total humiliation.

Early in the second half, Callejon scored his second goal after 49 minutes following a long pass from Rafael Varene. Benzema then struck his second to make it 6-0 after a neat exchange with Higuain.

Fatos Beciraj scored after 81 minutes to restore some pride to the visitors while Ivan Tomacak added a second in the last minute of the game.