Real Madrid 6-2 Dinamo Zagreb: Spanish Giants Crush Hapless Croatians To Rubber-Stamp Top Spot In Group D

The hosts made the best start possible and were on the scoresheet in the first minute of the match. Mesut Ozil found space on the byline and cut a pass into the box for Karim Benzema to take a touch and coolly slot the ball into the bottom right corner to score the fastest goal in history for Madrid in the Champions League.

Jose Mouriho's side doubled their lead within five minutes. A fantastic crossfield pass from Ozil found the head of Jose Callejon, who lept well to flicked the ball on to Benzema. The Frenchman then quickly turned and returned the pass to his team mate who emphatically drove the ball into the left corner.

Things got from bad to worse for Zagreb just three minutes later. Lassana Diarra played a ball into space for Gonzalo Higuain down the right-hand side of the box. The Argentine then drove forward before cleverly turning inside and delightfully flicking the ball over the oncoming Kelava with his weaker foot.

Germany international Mesut Ozil then made it 4-0 to the home side in the 20^th minute. Higuain showed impressive strength to fend of challenges coming in from the right wing before lashing a shot at goal with his left foot. Zagreb goalkeeper Kelava managed to make the save but Ozil retrieved the rebound and passed the ball into the open goal.

Real Madrid started the second half the exact same way they started they first and damaged the spirit of Zagreb with an early goal, and it could not have been in more simple fashion. Raphael Varane clipped the ball over the Zagreb defence from his own half and Jose Callejon took the ball down before driving forward and passing the ball into the right corner.

The locals made it 6-0 in the 66^th minute courtesy of an excellent spot of link up play on the outside of the Zagreb box. Benzema played a pass into the feet of Higuain and the Argentine flicked the ball back into the path of his team mate who went through on goal and slotted the ball nicely into the corner.

However, Zagreb rallied in the last ten minutes and were able to grab two consolation goals. Fatos Beqiraj popped up in the 81^st minute to score an excellent header at the near post after latching on to a well placed cross by Luis Ibanez. The Croatian side also scored in the dying minutes of the game after Milan Badelj took advantage of some miscommunication in the Madrid ranks to slide a cross to the back post for Ivan Tomacek to smuggle over the line.

Real Madrid retain top spot in Group D after notching up 15 points from five matches and will progress as winners of the group. Dinamo Zagreb find themselves bottom of the group with five losses out of five games.