August 8, 2012
MARVELOUS MERENGUES
Ronaldo, Real Madrid humble AC Milan

Cristiano Ronaldo, seen here with Milan defender Ignazio Abate, scored twice in the second half as Real Madrid defeated AC Milan 5-1 Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. Photo courtesy of the New York Yankees

NEW YORK--Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals and Kaka set up three as Real Madrid trounced AC Milan 5-1 in front of a Yankee Stadium record crowd of 49,474 Wednesday night.

The win was the Galacticos’ third straight on their four-game U.S. Tour, following victories over the LA Galaxy (5-1) and Santos Laguna (2-0). They conclude their North American swing Saturday against Celtic at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

Real Madrid took the lead in the 24th minute. After a corner kick was played into the area and punched out by Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. The ball found its way to the top of the 18, where Ángel Di María was there to put a perfect shot into the net.

Milan pulled even in the 33rd minute. Antonio Cassano centered the ball to Antonio Nocerino. Nocerino touched it wide to Robinho, who continued his run into the area and slipped his shot inside the right post.

That was as far as the Italians got. Once the second half began, the pitch where Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez normally perform belonged to Kaka and Ronaldo.

Three minutes into the period, Ronaldo made a run down the left side onto a ball from Lass Diarra. He caught up with the pass and, in full stride, put a left footed strike into the goal that was set up in front of the first base dugout.

Real blew the game open in the 66th minute on a brilliant 60-yard play begun by Gonzalo Higuaín in the defensive end of the field. He made a run down the right side and played the ball to Kaka in the middle. The Brazilian took the ball and in one motion turned and fed it to Ronaldo who was trailing the play on the left side. Ronaldo slipped the ball into the net from near the penalty spot for his second goal of the game.

After Ronaldo left the game in the 80th minute in favor of Morata, the game belonged to Kaka, who had only entered the match in the 62nd minute, as both teams made full use of the unlimited substitutions.

After ripping a shot from 20 yards out that was stopped by Milan goalkeeper Marco Amelia in the 68th minute, Kaka set up the fourth Real Madrid goal, the result of a corner kick after a shot by Morata.

From the near side, Kaka lofted the ball into the penalty area, and defender Sergio Ramos bounced a powerful header into the net in the 81st minute.

Seven minutes later, Kaka dribbled into the 18 yard box on the left side, then flicked it to the other side of the area where José Callejón finished from close range.

The crowd eclipsed the former Yankee Stadium soccer record set on June 21, 1968, when a crowd of 43,702 saw Pele score on a fantastic header, but it was teammate Toninho who stole the show with three goals as Santos beat Napoli 4-2. Jose Altafini had both goals for the Italian side.