Real Madrid warmed up for the FIFA Club World Cup in fine style by recording their 20th consecutive victory with a flattering 4-1 triumph over struggling Almeria last night.
Los Blancos will head out to Morocco this weekend with the intention of returning to Spain as world champions, and they secured the points through goals from Isco, Gareth Bale and a clinical late double from Cristiano Ronaldo, along with a penalty save from Iker Casillas.
The visitors came close to an early goal when a long-range thunderbolt from Toni Kroos was deflected onto the crossbar and Ronaldo sent the rebound narrowly off target with a spectacular overhead effort.
Another golden chance came the way of the league leaders when Bale surged clear down the left, but the Welshman couldn’t find Karim Benzema when he opted to cross rather than shoot.
But the deadlock was soon broken with a moment of brilliance from Isco, who controlled a deep cross on his chest on the left of the penalty area and cut inside onto his right foot to whip and unstoppable curler into the bottom right corner.
Almeria were under the leadership of interim coach Miguel Rivera after the recent sacking of previous boss Francisco Rodriguez, and the hosts got back on level terms against the run of play when a right wing cross was half-cleared as far as Verza, who promptly thrashed a fierce drive past the diving Casillas.
But parity didn’t last for long as the visitors regained their lead before the interval, when Kroos delivered an inswinging cross from the right wing and Bale was left unmarked in the centre to glance home a firm and well-placed header.
Early in the second half another break from Bale gave the visitors a chance to give themselves breathing space, but he appeared to be caught into two minds between shooting and passing to Ronaldo and ended up drifting the ball wide of the far post.
Almeria soon had a glorious opportunity to level for the second time when Edgar Mendez raced into the area and was brought down by a clumsy challenge from Marcelo.
Verza stepped up to strike the penalty firmly towards the right corner, but Casillas dived full-stretch to his left to make a superb save.
And having survived that scare, Madrid eventually wrapped up the points with a late brace from top scorer Ronaldo, who finished easily after latching onto passes from first Karim Benzema and then Dani Carvajal.
