Real romp past Greeks

Ivan Helguera lashes home the opening goal at the Bernabau

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Real Madrid 3-0 Panathinaikos

Two goals from Raul propelled Real Madrid to a comfortable home win over Champions League Group C rivals Panathinaikos.

Raul added two second-half strikes after Ivan Helguera had opened the scoring just before the interval.

The Spanish champions now have six points out of a possible six points in their group while the Greek club has just one point from two outings.

Madrid, lacking midfielders Claude Makelele and Steve McManaman, had early chances to Zinedine Zidane, Fernando Morientes, Fernando Hierro and Luis Figo.

Panathinaikos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis made a left-handed save to thwart Raul in the 26th minute.

Madrid eventually struck 15 minutes later when Zidane's long ball found Helguera unmarked and the Spanish international chested the ball down before driving home from a narrow angle.

Figo hit the bar and Raul wasted a good chance as Panathinaikos were lucky to be only a goal down at the break.

After the break substitute Derek Boateng and Polish international Emmanuel Olisadebe both came close to equalising.

The game was evenly poised until the 66th minute when Madrid put the result out of reach as Raul netted a diving header from a Roberto Carlos cross.

Six minutes later he added second goal after a Figo cross had been turned onto the post by Nikopolidis.

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Real Madrid: Casillas, Salgado, Carlos, Hierro, Zidane, Helguera, Raul, Morientes, Figo, Celades, Pavsn. Subs: Cesar, Guti, Geremi, Karanka, Solari, Munitis, Bravo.

Panathinaikos: Nikopolidis, Henriksen, Seitaridis, Sousa, Goumas, Michaelsen, Kyrgiakos, Konstantinou, Basinas, Olisadebe, Fissas. Subs: Kotsolis, Vlaovic, Boateng, Kolkka, Vokolos, Liberopoulos, Karagounis.

Referee: Giles Veissiere (France)