Cristiano Ronaldo punted the ball with full force after picking it out of the net at Qualcomm Stadium.
The Real Madrid star forward sent the ball out to midfield. He had just scored the first goal of the night against Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara. His choice for celebration appeared to be more of frustration.
Ronaldo's goal broke a scoreless draw in the 73rd minute of a friendly match. Ronaldo went on to score two more times to lead the Copa del Rey champions to a 3-0 win against a Chivas team that gave Real Madrid its toughest challenge yet in the World Football Challenge.
It's a tournament that pits European clubs against Mexican and Major League soccer clubs. The series brought Real Madrid to San Diego for the first time.
On Wednesday night, it was mostly Ronaldo's show. He completed a hat trick in a span of 10 minutes.
The announced crowd of 38,211, which looked more like 25,000, saw the Portuguese star make his third goal after also scoring in the 76th and 82nd minute. However, Chivas held its own, keeping coach José Mourinho's team at bay for most of the match.
Chivas, like Real Madrid, in its preseason, showed it was not afraid to move the ball and drive up field. It covered spaces and at times stifled Real Madrid players. It was a different style of soccer compared to what Real Madrid faced last week against the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
Real Madrid, which has friendlies scheduled in Philadelphia, Berlin, England and China before it beings the regular season Aug. 21, did practically what it wanted in that match, beating the Galaxy 4-1 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Real Madrid appeared to be cruising through that match, almost at ease.
That wasn't the case Wednesday night. Real Madrid appeared to be into the match. Players argued for penalty kicks, they sprinted up and down the wings with more urgency. There were even five yellow cards shown during the match. One of those was for Ronaldo, who got into a mini altercation with Chivas defender Mario de Luna.
"This was a much more complicated game or us," Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero said when asked to compare this match with the one against the Galaxy. "This was more intense. Chivas defended well and made it complicated for us to score the first goal."
Defender Pepe echoed Granero's thoughts.
"Chivas came out strong in the first half," Pepe said. "They held on to the ball a lot better."
Even Mourinho appeared to be anxious on the sideline. He didn't make any additional substitutes to his five at the half until the 78th minute. His starting line-up included seven of his regulars but his team still could not score against one of Mexico's most popular and wealthier clubs.
Real Madrid showed flashes of their power with Ronaldo taking a couple free kicks at goal from about 35 and 40 yards respectively in the first half. Neither caused any danger as his first landed in the arms of Chivas goalkeeper Luis Michel in the 6th minute. His second came 10 minutes later and it deflected off a wall of Chivas defenders. Ronaldo also nearly scored in 39th minute when he sent a shot into the left side of the net.
Give credit to Michel, who helped keep Chivas in the game with a handful of spectacular saves.
It wasn't until starting defender Hector Reynoso exited the game in the 55th minute with an injury that Real Madrid attacked with a bit more ease. But for three quarters of the match, Chivas played its own style of soccer, marking players tightly while trying to spread the ball around.
"To play against one of the three best teams in the world, that motivated us," said Chivas coach José Luis Real, whose team opens the Mexican league regular season this weekend at Atlante. "Chivas was going to be Chivas. We weren't going to try anything strange, like sit back and defend."
Chivas wasn't afraid to attack.
Guadalajara's clearest opportunity came when Chivas forward Omar Arellano escaped inside the penalty box only to have Real Madrid's 18-year-old defender Raphael Varane make a sliding save to kill any chance of sending a shot on goal. But Guadalajara couldn't put one past goalkeepers Antonio Adan and Iker Casillas, who came in as a substitute after halftime.
Just as Chivas couldn't score, neither could the Spanish giant.
It wasn't until Ronaldo sent Karim Benzema's rolling crossing pass past Michel to give Real Madrid a 1-0 lead. Ronaldo did it with style. He brought down a bounce on Benzema's pass with his left leg and quickly switched feet and buried a right footed shot.
Soon after, Ronaldo was kicking the ball to midfield in celebration. It appeared to be a sense of relief. Real Madrid would take over with Ronaldo leading the way.
Ronaldo's second goal came via a penalty kick. Ronaldo converted the PK after Chivas forward
Arellano took down Pepe just inside of the penalty area.
Ronaldo sealed the win with a right-footed blast to the lower right of the net off a Mesut Ozil rolling cross into the area.
Ronaldo didn't stick around to speak with the media about his goals. He sped past a herd of reporters in the interview area to the team bus. Real Madrid was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles, where its training is based before flying to Philadelphia on Friday.
The 27-year-old striker who was named the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2008 left without explaining why he punted that ball 60-yards toward midfield after his first goal.
ivan.orozco@sandiegored.com
