Two goals from tournament goal king Francisco Sol and further strikes from Ignacio Boto, Daniel De Las Heras and captain Carlos Exposito propelled Real Madrid to a famous PUSKÁS-SUZUKI CUP victory against the Puskás Academy in Székesfehérvár today.
It was a frenetic start to the final match at the Sóstói Stadion with both teams going close in the first five minutes, Roland Baracskai first testing Real goalkeeper Diego Orozco with a low shot in the second minute before Victor Illana’s drive was well-held by Bálint Sztányi int he Academy goal two minutes later.
The early stages were even but the Puskás Academy will
surely regret the golden opportunity that came their way when the game was
still scoreless. After 17 minutes a long ball out of defence was missed by Real
centre-back Boto and allowed forward Ádám Gyurcsó a clean run on goal but
crucially he hesitated and Orozco was able to close him down and block his
eventual shot.
From that moment on Real took a strong hold on the game and never let go. Six
minutes later the Spanish side took the lead through De Las Heras’s header
after a mellee and Pablo Sarabia’s flighted cross left Puskás Academy
goalkeeper Sztányi stranded out of his goal. On the half- hour Madrid’s lead
was extended and this time it was Sol who notched his third goal of the
tournament, heading home via a defender’s boot after persistence from Exposito
down the right wing had allowed him the chance to cross.
Now Real were buoyant and Puskás Academy heads were down so it was no surpirse when the third goal was scored just a minute later, this time Sarabia’s beautiful near-post corner getting the treatment it deserved through Boto’s bullet header into the top right corner of the net.
The Puskás Academy had not given up though, despite the superiority of their world-class opposition and two minutes before half time they got their reward, Boto bringing down Gyurcsó in the area and the forward picking himself up to stroke home the resultant penalty.
The second half was similar to the first in that the intial stages were tight, but Real’s fourth, Exposito heading high into the net another Sarabia corner, merely served to show how high-quality teams can always step up a gear and score when they need to. Three minutes later the scoring was complete, Sol scoring his second of the game to secure the tournament’s top goalscorer award by tucking a rebound after Sarabia’s free-kick was beaten out by Sztányi.
There were still lighting-fast attacks at times though and Real substitue David Ramirez chip with the outside pof his right foot perhaps deserved more than to bounce off the cross bar and out to safety. As it was, as well as the Puskás Academy acquitted themselves in such a valiant effort, it was the superior class and clinicism from one of the world’s most successful teams that finally won the day
