Real brush aside Galatasaray

Claude Makelele launches himself into a challenge

Real Madrid 3-0 Galatasaray (Agg: 5-3)

Defending champions Real Madrid thrashed Galatasaray at the Bernabeu Stadium to reach the semi-finals of the European Champions League.

Striker Raul scored two and Ivan Helguera grabbed the other to put the Spanish club through at the expense of the Turks 5-3 on aggregate.

The home side's triple strike in the opening 37 minutes set up a semi-final showdown with Bayern Munich.

Vicente Del Bosque's men threw away a two-goal lead in the first leg in the hostile Ali Sami Yen stadium.

But this time around, inspired by over 100,000 fans inside the Bernabeu, Real brushed aside the Turkish challenge.

Two-goal hero Raul leads the celebrations

The writing was on the wall for the Turkish side the moment Raul beat the diving Claudio Taffarel to Michel Salgado's cross in the 15th minute.

The Spanish international forward slid in front of the Brazilian to level the aggregate score from five yards out.

Real were in front in the tie 13 minutes later through Helguera's header.

The defender rose highest at the near post to powerfully plant Luis Figo's corner into the roof of the net.

First-time shot

The home side continued to break Galatasaray resistance and were three-up eight minutes before the break.

Steve McManaman surged forward to the edge of the penalty box before threading a neat ball through to Raul.

The hitman grabbed his second of the night by beating Taffarel with a first time left-foot shot from seven yards.

Korkmaz squares up to Gonzales as tempers flare

McManaman almost added to the scoreline in the second half but his goal-bound shot hit team-mate Jose Maria Guti, who was lying prostrate in front of the goal after colliding with Taffarel.

Galatasaray found the target only once in the first half and rarely troubled home keeper Iker Casillas after the break as they proved an easy picking for rampant Real.

Madrid, voted team of the century by football's world governing body FIFA last year, remain on course for their ninth title.

---

Real Madrid: Casillas, Salgado, Hierro, Karanka, Carlos, Figo, Makelele, Helguera, McManaman, Guti, Raul.
Subs: Cesar, Savio, Geremi, Conceicao, Munitis, Celades, Solari.

Galatasaray: Taffarel, Korkmaz, Akyel, Davala, Suat, Sas, Belozoglu, Buruk, Asik, Jardel, Hagi.
Subs: Inan, Inceefe, Yilderim, Atalay, Akin, Arif.

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden).