European Champions League

Real Madrid 3 - Zenit St Petersburg 0

Madrid: Dudek; Michel Salgado, Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Marcelo; Guti (Javi García 51'), Gago, Van der Vaart (Metzelder 46'); Higuaín, Raúl (Saviola 60'), Robben. 4-3-3.
Zenit: Malafeev; Anyukov, Lombaerts (Domíngez 76'), Krizanac, Sirl; Denisov, Tymoshchuk, Zyryanov; Danny; Arshavin (Fayzulin 46'), Pogrebnyak (Fatih Tekke 72'). 4-3-1-2.

Goals:
1-0. 25. Raúl. Turned ball in to net after keeper failed to hold Van der Vaart cross.
2-0. 50. Robben. Picked up Raúl pass and ran on lob ball over Malafeev.
3-0. 56. Raúl. Collected Robben pass on edge of area and lifted shot over keeper.

Juande Ramos led Real Madrid to a 3-0 victory over Zenit on Wednesday night, just a few hours after taking over from Bernd Schuster as team coach. The ex Sevilla and Spurs boss stuck to a line-up similar to his predecessor, but they showed more sparkle and went ahead after Malafeev dropped Van der Vaart's cross at Raúl's feet midway through the first half.

Robben brought good saves out of the visiting keeper either side of half time, but five minutes after the restart the Dutch winger picked up a pass from Raúl to lob a shot in to the net with the outside of his foot. Six minutes later Robben returned the favour, setting up Raúl for him to chip over the head of the keeper.

The Russian side could have pulled one back when Dudek tipped a shot from Fayzulin against the post, and when Danny headed against the bar near the end. But a morale-boosting win for Madrid just three days before they visit the Nou Camp, albeit that it was not enough to take them above Juventus to the top of the group after the Italians scraped a draw against BATE Borisov.