Morientes' magic keeps on working and it is undoubtedly a guarantee. He had been on the pitch for hardly four minutes as Ronaldo's replacement when he scored the first of the night. Then, past fulltime, he hit the second target that paved the way to the qualification for the Champions League. The game was very intense with chances coming up for both sides. There were many positive aspects in the play shown by Camacho's boys, one of them being the concentration that brought a third straight game with no goals against. Besides, Samuel did an excellent job in the centre of the defence, while Figo's devotion in the middle line was remarkable. The second leg (August 25th, Santiago Bernabéu) is now less of a strain with today's 0-2.

Nobody in the packed Station Wisla Stadium had a doubt about it. The showdown started frantically, with no interruptions and with lots of approaches to both areas, especially to the local one. The game was lively and nice to watch, so Madrid tried to make the most of it. Roberto Carlos and Figo made the opening moves with three shots on goal in the early ten minutes of play. Wisla's goal was in danger, but it was Casillas who finaly got the scare, as Zienczuk came up with a charge that was close to end up with the white keeper beaten.

Samuel began to stand out as the best player on the pitch as the game went on. Then there was the Zidane-Figo partnership, which proved very efficient. However, the rhythm of the play was bound to wear off for two reasons: firstly the early stage of the season and secondly five players had to be replaced in the break. But then the goal-scoring opportunities kept coming up. The local defence cleared a shot that Zidaned had fired very precisely, then the Portuguese's raid almost provoked an own-goal in the local area (34'), and just three minutes before, Casillas had stopped Uche from making the most of a loose ball in the area. The midfield was like a kind of stopover.

A rearrangement seemed very necessary as halftime was drawing near. The beginning of the second half proved very stressing for both coaches. Cantoro was close, so was Beckham, and Zurawski and Helguera saved the goal right under the woodwork; Raúl and Ronaldo also missed it by inches.

The rhythm of the game got crazy once again while Guti, Morientes and Celades began with the warming-up. Wisla was showing some the very good skills that Camacho had previously warned about. In the meantime, Madrid was also doing its best football as its players did not even show any sign of tiredness.

Morientes comes on to score

Camacho did not wait any longer and sent Guti and Morientes on (67') to replace Zidane and Ronaldo, so the tactics did not change much. It seemed that the white 8 was still in his good streak when he hit (71'). It was a move coming from the right flank and Beckahm rounded it off shooting right by the inside of the far post. Raúl could not make it but Morientes was there to score his first official goal with Madrid after his year off.

The only thing left for the locals to do was a exploit and they really got all the support of their fans to do so. The cheering cries were constantly heard, but Samuel was there like a wall. The Argentinean player did very well on his debut with his new club. Camacho sent Celades on for Pavón (84') and Helguera moved back to the defence. However, we still were to see Morientes' double when the time was running out. The white forward consolidated his team's good standing in the round with another target. The Whites will have to give no nasty surprise next Saturday, August 25th at Bernabéu.


THE MATCH:

0 - WISLA KRAKOW: Majdan; Baszczynsky, Klos, Glowacki, Mijailovic; Uche (Gorawski 62´), Szymkowiak, Cantoro, Zienczuk (Kukielka 81´); Zurawski and Frankowski (Kuzba 76´).

2 - REAL MADRID: Casillas; Míchel Salgado, Pavón (Celades 84´), Samuel, Roberto Carlos; Helguera, Beckham, Figo, Zidane (Guti 67´); Raúl and Ronaldo (Morientes 67´).

GOALS:
0-1, min.71: Beckham's centre shot and Morientes, standing at the far post, chips the ball into the net.
0-2, min.90: Roberto Carlos' advance, and, just like in the first goal, Morientes was watching the far post very closely.

REFEREE: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland). He cautioned Samuel (43´), Pavón (75´).

OTHER FACTS: Champions League preliminary stage, third round, first leg.. Stadion Wisla Krakow S.S.A., full (10,000 spectators). Florentino Pérez watched the match from the royal box. Real Madrid wore its second kit for the first time, the black one.

13.08.2004 07:03 +0400
RealMadrid.com