Ronaldo fires Real Madrid to convincing win

MADRID, (Reuters) – Real Madrid’s pursuit of a 10th European crown continues to gather momentum after they dismissed Galatasaray 3-0 at home in their Champions League quarter-final first leg yesterday.
The finishing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain put the last eight’s outsiders Galatasaray firmly in their place, despite bold pre-match talk that they would take the game to the Jose Mourinho’s men.

The gulf in class was evident and Portugal’s Ronaldo pulled away onto Mesut Ozil’s through ball to net with a cool lob after only nine minutes, to become the tournament’s leading scorer with nine goals.
Benzema slotted the ball inside Fernando Muslera’s near post for the second after 29 minutes and substitute Higuain flicked a header into the top corner at a freekick in the 73rd.

Galatasaray, backed by raucous support, rarely threatened but when they did keeper Diego Lopez was on hand for the hosts as they kept a first clean sheet of the competition.
“Real Madrid played a very good, balanced match,” Real coach Mourinho told a news conference.
“The team worked very hard and to score an early goal makes all the difference. It changes the game.”