Ajax 1-4 Real Madrid

Ronaldo netted a hat-trick as Real
Madrid made it two wins from as many
games in Group D, with the Spanish
champions cruising to a 4-1 victory
over Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena.
And the margin would have been even
wider had it not been for a string of
excellent saves by home keeper
Kenneth Vermeer who somehow kept
Madrid at bay for 40 minutes.
Vermeer made five good saves before
Ronaldo finally broke the deadlock
three minutes before the break.
The goal, though thoroughly deserved,
required a touch of good fortune as
Karim Benzema's low cross took two
deflections before Ronaldo casually
prodded home the opener from three
yards.
Benzema scored a brilliant second two
minutes after the break, when he
acrobatically hooked home Kaka's
precise assist to finish off a sweeping
Real move.
Two minutes after Vermeer had
pushed away another Ronaldo effort
on 54, Ajax somehow reduced the
margin when Christian Eriksen's corner
was headed home at the far post by
Niklas Moisander.
The goal certainly gave the home side a
boost and they almost equalised when
Siem de Jong clipped the ball wide
when unmarked at the far post.
But in the closing 15 minutes, Ronaldo
scored twice in the space of 120
seconds to seal the points.
First, he latched on to Benzema's cross
to curl home from 20 yards before
completing his hat-trick by lobbing the
helpless Vermeer.