Everton FC were undone by two moments of class from Cristiano Ronaldo as they lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in Los Angeles.
The Blues saw a legitimate first half headed goal from Sylvain Distin ruled out harshly for pushing by ref Baldomero Toledo, and should have had a penalty when Kevin Mirallas was felled in the area.
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Everton FC 1 Real Madrid 2
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But despite having to contend with an official who was overly charitable to Carlo Ancelotti’s star-studded side, Everton acquitted themselves well in the second of their three-game USA tour, and even threatened a come-back after Nikica Jelavic scored with 30 minutes remaining.
From the opening whistle Roberto Martinez’s men showed the same confidence and attacking conviction which saw them defeat Italian Champions Juventus in San Francisco on Wednesday.
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However they were guilty of defending too high up the field in the early exchanges, and were punished when Ronaldo – who had already gone one on one with Tim Howard and missed – surged into area and opened the scoring on 18 minutes.
The Toffees kept their composure and gave Real more than a few headaches down their left flank, where Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas were combining to nice effect and giving Marcelo a torrid time.
Miralls was flying and seemed to have been checked in the area as he burst through on goal on 24 minutes, but Baldomero waved away protests.
Then after the Belgian won his side another free kick, Marouane Fellaini climbed high to meet Leighton Baines’ pin-point delivery only to see his header hit the post.
If that wasn’t frustrating enough, Everton had the ball in the net soon after when the Blues’ set-piece dominance continued. This time Distin got above the Madrid defence and scored with a powerful header only for the ref to rule out the goal for pushing.
Everton’s sense of injustice was compounded just minutes later when Ronaldo, who appeared to have strayed onside, latched onto a defence-splitting pass from Luka Modric to set-up Mesut Ozil for a tap in.
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Ronaldo might have rubbed salt in the wounds near the break when he again found himself clean through, but his chip flew over Howard’s cross-bar.
After the break Jelavic replaced Arouna Kone, who seemed sluggish at times, and the Blues instantly had more bite in attack.
Indeed Jelavic made no mistake with a first time finish on 62 minutes after a superb knock-down from the impressive Steven Naismith.
Phil Jagielka thought he had headed the leveller when he stooped to meet a Baines free-kick but the effort went narrowly over, and that was it.
Madrid threatened as the clock wore down, but Everton were entitled to feel they could and should have had more from this International Champions Cup encounter.
Friendly or not, a sense of injustice after a narrow defeat by one of the best sides in the world could bode well for the coming Premeir League campaign.
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EVERTON: (4-2-3-1) Howard, Coleman (Stones, 84) Distin, Jagielka (Capt), Heitnga (Gibson, 68) Baines, Osman, Fellaini (Barkley, 68), Naismith, Kone (Jelavic, 45), Mirallas (Deulofeu, 84).
Subs not used: Robles, Oviedo, Anichebe, Vellios.
Bookings:
Goals: Jelavic (62)
REAL MADRID: Casillas (Capt) (Fernandez, 45), Arbeloa (Carvajal, 45), Ramos (Coentrao, 45), Laveran (Lopez, 45), Marcelo, Khedira, Benzema (Kaka, 70), Modric (Di Maria, 45), Ozil (Cherishchev, 86), Isco (Casemiro, 45), Ronaldo (Rodriguez, 60).
Subs not used: Casado, Mateos, Illaramendi, Meijas, Leite, Varane.
Bookings:
Goals: Ronaldo (18) Ozil (32)
Ref: Baldomero Toledo
Five Filters recommends: ‘You Say What You Like, Because They Like What You Say’ – http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/alerts-2013/731-you-say-what-you-like-because-they-like-what-you-say.html