Real players tired of signing hat-trick balls
Reuters - Saturday 22 October 2011, 21:36
Cristiano Ronaldo's third
hat-trick and Real Madrid's fifth in their first eight La Liga
matches is getting tiresome for team-mates who have to sign the
ball the treble scorer takes home.
Ronaldo struck three times in 14 first-half minutes as
Madrid crushed Malaga 4-0 away on Saturday, adding to the
three-goal hauls he collected against Real Zaragoza and Rayo
Vallecano.
Real's Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain also bagged
hat-tricks in the wins over Espanyol and Real Betis to take his
total to nine in the league.
"It's good they keep changing, one day one, the next day the
other," Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa joked with reporters. "I'm
tired of signing balls, we don't have enough pens."
Real tore Malaga apart in the first half, Higuain opening
the scoring in the 11th minute and coach Jose Mourinho praised
his side for their performance in their sixth straight win in
all competitions.
"I liked every aspect of our game, we have scored goals with
a variety of moves," the Portuguese told reporters.
"We knew it wouldn't be possible to match it in the second
half. The concentration levels dropped, their pride kicked in,
and it could have ended up 4-2 or 5-2.
"You can't compare the two halves... but what we did in the
first part was fantastic."
It was a harsh reminder for Malaga that they still had a
long way to go to match Real Madrid on the field, after having
equalled their spending in the closed season on nine new
players.
Malaga were bought by a member of the Qatari royal family,
Sheikh Abdullah al Thani, last year and have stated their aim is
to get into Europe.
"There is still a long way to go and perhaps at present we
can't compete," Malaga General Manager Fernando Hierro told
reporters.
"We need time. The sheikh is happy with his team, with the
project and the city... we have a lot of confidence invested in
this."