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COMMENT
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer

You could see how much it meant to them. Cristiano Ronaldo lay on the turf at one end of the pitch, lapping up the applause from the Santiago Bernabeu faithful. There was no love lacking now. And on the sidelines, Jose Mourinho slid across the playing surface in a celebration reminiscent of his greatest Champions League nights. This may have been only a group game, but it was a big deal.

Madrid twice trailed in a game they could have lost but ultimately beat Manchester City 3-2 thanks to Ronaldo’s last-gasp winner. Having dominated the first half, Edin Dzeko gave the visitors something of a shock lead. Madrid were staring down the barrel at a damaging defeat in front of their restless fans. Losing a fourth game out of seven this season – and at home, to boot – was not a good idea.

MADE IN PORTUGAL
MOURINHO MAKES KEY CHANGE
73′	Modric and Benzema replace Khedira and Higuain as Real Madrid look for a way back into the game at 1-0 down.
RONALDO SCORES THE WINNER
90′	GOAL!!!!! Cometh the hour, cometh the man as they say and Cristiano Ronaldo has got the goal in the final minute of normal time. The forward finds room on the left of the box and hits it hard towards goal but as Kompany ducks instead of heading it away, the ball zips underneath Hart’s boot and fizzes in. What a game. What a turnaround.

But Mourinho reacted – he had to. Despite dominance in the first half, the midfield ‘trivote’ made up of Alonso, Michael Essien and Sami Khedira was far from the positive ideology Madrid fans had hoped for. The home side huffed and puffed in the first 45 minutes but came up against a great Joe Hart. At 1-0 down, however, it was time for something different – and on came Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. Earlier, at 0-0, Mesut Ozil had replaced Essien.

Ozil and Modric looked lively and showed no shortage of quality around the City area. The Croat’s probing, in particular, seemed to spark Madrid into life again. But it was Marcelo, who came close several times with long-range efforts, who levelled with a deflected effort, only to see Aleksandar Kolarov’s free kick go in off Alonso and restore City’s lead. Madrid were behind once again and time was ticking.

But Benzema, without a goal since May for club or country, turned and beat Hart with a fantastic finish inside his left-hand post with four minutes left. It was game on.

And now it was Ronaldo’s turn to shine. The Portuguese completed every single one of his 50 passes over the 90 minutes, but had looked less dangerous than he can be at his brilliant best. Something still did not seem quite right following his revelations of unhappiness and refusal to celebrate his two goals against Granada before the international break.

Madridistas had been frustrated by the Portuguese’s poor performance in the defeat at Sevilla on Saturday, too, and some had even reached the somewhat hasty conclusion that perhaps it was time for him to move on.

But in an instant, all of that was forgotten. The Portuguese had work to do in the area as he took possession in the final minute but cut inside his marker and beat Hart with a fizzing effort the England goalkeeper will have thought he should have saved. Ronaldo won’t care, though – and nor will Madrid.

It may have been a rollercoaster ride, but the home fans left happy. And instead of waking up to headlines of player mutinies (Sergio Ramos was surprisingly left out of the starting line-up, a decision described as “technical” by his coach) and a lack of decisiveness, Mourinho and Ronaldo made peace with the Bernabeu.

La Liga is still not lost, even though they trail Barcelona by eight points, but there is a sense this season that the one they really want is the Champions League. This win sets up their campaign just nicely. Coming through such a test will do Madrid no harm at all and Mourinho could barely contain himself after the match. “That’s what I want from my team,” he said. “I am sorry for the journalists who had their story written and then had to change it,” he added later.

But he wasn’t sorry, of course – he was loving it. The feelgood factor is back and this comeback could just kick-start the campaign for Madrid. In this mood, they look like true champions.

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Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has voiced his delight after his side’s comeback against Premier League champions Manchester City in their Champions League clash at the Bernabeu.

Los Blancos left it late, scoring twice in the last three minutes of normal time through Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, to snatch three points from the jaws of defeat in a 3-2 triumph.

“It’s good because the DNA of my team is back.” explained Mourinho, speaking to ITV.

“Real Madrid can lose matches, Mourinho can lose matches, my players can lose matches, and we can lose matches like tonight.

“We could lose and I would be proud, but we cannot lose matches like we did in Sevilla and Getafe and my happiness is not just about the three points, it is about the DNA of my team being back.”

After speaking negatively of his team’s performances in La Liga, Mourinho was glad to announce that his players had shown their worth.

“They’ve proved to me that if they want, they can. If they want to be top professionals and if they want to respect Real Madrid’s history, every match, not just against City or against Barcelona, every single match they can do it because last season they proved it.

“If I am the coach of a small team I can lose more times but as the coach of Real Madrid I can not accept that. I’m so happy with the players’ attitudes, because it’s a big victory against a big team. That’s football and we deserve to win. If I feel we don’t, I would feel a bit more for them but we produced a better match than them.

“We tried to win from the first minute and I think we deserved it.”

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal in the 90th minute as Real Madrid secured a 3-2 victory against Manchester City after an incredible second-half at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Edin Dzeko came off the bench to give the visitors the lead after a surging run from midfield from Yaya Toure, but Marcelo quickly replied with a curling shot.

The home supporters were left stunned when Aleksandar Kolarov’s free-kick drifted untouched into the bottom corner of Iker Casillas’ goal but Karim Benzema again pulled Madrid back with a sublime turn and finish.

And Ronaldo ensured that Jose Mourinho’s team put their early season woes behind them with a dipping shot that flew past both Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart.

Both Mourinho and Roberto Mancini and sprung selection surprises, although the latter made the more drastic changes following his team’s poor start to their league campaign. World champion Sergio Ramos was dropped from the Madrid defence, with 19-year-old Raphael Varane stepping in, while City handed a debut to the similarly inexperienced Matija Nastasic, with Joleon Lescott restricted to a place among the substitutes.

Mourinho has been unhappy with Mesut Ozil’s start to the season but opted to replace the German with loan signing Michael Essien, of Chelsea, and not marquee purchase Luka Modric. Javi Garcia scored on his debut on Saturday and played again in midfield for the visitors.

With neither Ozil nor Modric in the starting line-up, Ronaldo roamed into the space left vacant in the centre of the pitch and immediately looked the game’s most threatening player. Hart was tested for the first time when the Portuguese raced on to Higuain’s pass before fooling Kompany with a series of tricks and the England goalkeeper did well to palm the low shot wide.

Ronaldo continued to fire at will from the left side of the penalty area and Hart was called into action again when Higuain deflected another powerful shot with his head from close range.

The visitors gradually began to gain more of a foothold but could not get the ball to stick in attack and when they conceded possession, Real Madrid demonstrated their counter-attacking prowess. Higuain could not quite control a superb pass dropped behind the City defence by Angel di Maria and Sami Khedira diverted Ronaldo’s follow-up effort over the crossbar.

Two adventurous midfield runs by Toure began with promise but ended without troubling Casillas and Higuain went close again when he latched on to Di Maria’s cross to the back post before the half was out.

It is difficult to imagine that in this, of all games, attacking quality would be in short supply but while both teams ventured into dangerous territory early in the second half, the finishing touches needed to open the scoring continued to elude them.

Mancini had already introduced Kolarov from the bench when Samir Nasri suffered a hamstring injury in the first half and with both benches littered with attacking talent, more changes seemed inevitable. Dzeko was next to take the field, replacing David Silva, and the Bosnian would provide the cutting edge that had been missing.

Toure, who had looked City’s biggest threat all night long, broke out of the midfield again to create a two-on-one attack and this time successfully found his target with a simple through ball. Dzeko took the pass in his stride and beat Casillas with a composed, low left-footed finish.

Ozil had already been thrown into the fray and Modric and Benzema were quickly introduced as Mourinho sought to salvage something from the match, but Toure almost doubled the lead when released by Carlos Tevez, shooting narrowly wide.

The Spanish champions immediately looked more dangerous in the final third following the changes, though, and Marcelo curled a right-footed shot into the top corner after shaking off Kompany just outside the penalty area.

Set-pieces have troubled Madrid all season and after Pablo Zabaleta had failed to get contact on Carlos Tevez’s low cross, Kolarov delivered a free-kick that found its way into the back of the net after flying without interference past defenders and attackers alike.

Incredibly, though, there was more to come, and Mancini’s celebrations on the sideline were short-lived. Benzema was next to strike after a mazy run from Di Maria, turning on the edge of the box and firing a powerful, low shot into the bottom corner.

And City’s hearts were broken when Ronaldo stepped inside Zabaleta – who had relieved Maicon of his duties of marking the Portugal star – and released a dipping shot that beat the partially obscured Hart after Kompany had put himself in the way of the ball but failed to head clear.

Feyenood manager Ronald Koeman has revealed that he was approached by Royston Drenthe in the summer about a possible return to the club where the player first made his name.

The midfielder attempted to contact the Rotterdam club after his Real Madrid contract was not renewed in the close season. However, a move did not work out.

“I phoned Royston to speak to him because he tried to contact us,” Koeman told Voetbal International.

“I explained that we have enough players in the [his] positions and that we wanted to spend little money, and only on a striker.“

Drenthe, who spent time on loan at Everton and Hercules following his transfer to the Bernabeu, began his career in the Eredivisie and spent two seasons with Feyenoord between 2005 and 2007.

Premier League champions Manchester City kick-off their Champions League campaign against Real Madrid, with Sergio Aguero taking a place on the bench as Matija Nastasic makes his debut for the club.

Roberto Mancini’s side stuttered to a 1-1 draw at Stoke in their last league game and the Italian has made three changes from that side, with Nastasic coming in for Joleon Lescott at the heart of the defence being the only difference at the back.

In midfield Javi Garcia retained his place as he is set to start against one of his former clubs, while Gareth Barry makes his first start of the season after a lower abdomen problem, replacing Scott Sinclair.

More to follow…

Real Madrid XI: Casillas,Varane, Pepe, Khedira, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Alonso, Essien, Arbeloa, Higuaín, Di María
Subs:

Manchester City starting XI: Hart, Clichy, Kompany, Nastasic, Maicon, Toure Y, Nasri, Barry, Silva, Garcia, Tevez
Subs: