Real storm back to take charge of Malaga tie
Reuters - Tuesday 03 January 2012, 23:13
Holders Real Madrid scored
three times in 10 minutes at the Bernabeu on Tuesday to beat
Malaga 3-2 in their King's Cup last 16 first leg, sparked by a
furious dressing down from Jose Mourinho.
Real coach Mourinho threw caution to the wind with a triple
substitution after delivering a withering half-time team talk
with his side trailing 2-0, calling them "rubbish."
Two of his replacements, Sami Khedira and Karim Benzema, and
Gonzalo Higuain led the fightback, netting between the 68th and
78th minutes to turn the tie and spare Real's blushes.
"I told the players at half-time I would have changed all 11
if I could have," Mourinho told reporters.
"I had considered making changes before the break but I
don't like to do this. I asked them to clean up the rubbish of
the first half."
Up to that point, the underdogs had held sway in the cup
with three surprise results earlier in the evening.
Third tier Mirandes, who knocked out Villarreal in the
previous round, took a 2-0 lead over Racing Santander while
another Segunda B side, Albacete, drew 0-0 with Athletic Bilbao.
Second division Alcorcon, who eliminated Real Zaragoza last
month, grabbed a 2-1 win at home to high-flying Levante, who lie
fourth in La Liga.
Qatari-owned Malaga had been thrashed 4-0 and 7-0 in their
last two meetings with Real, but took the lead through Sergio
Sanchez and Martin Demichelis, both scoring with headers from
Santi Cazorla corners.
WAYWARD BACK-PASS
Mourinho threw on Germany midfielders Khedira and Mesut Ozil
and France striker Benzema for the second half to try and shake
his side out of their lethargy, and the former barged his way
through to start the fightback.
Argentina's Higuain pounced on a wayward back-pass to level
two minutes later and Benzema slotted the third after a
wonderful back-heel from Higuain as Malaga desperately tried to
keep the floodgates closed.
"We gave them a goal at a crucial moment," Malaga coach
Manuel Pellegrini said referring to Sanchez's under-hit back-pass
for the equaliser.
"We should have come away with a better result. We had the
chances to finish them off."
Pablo Infante was the hero for Mirandes, scoring after 32
minutes and laying on the second for Mikel Martins just after
the restart, leaving La Liga's lowest scoring team Racing with a
tough task in the second leg.
Alcorcon, who famously dumped city neighbours Real out of
the cup while in the Segunda B two years ago, surprised Levante
with Borja Perez and Nagore twice giving them the lead.
Last season's losing finalists Barcelona are at home to
Osasuna on Wednesday. The second legs will be played next week.