Real Madrid U21 dominated in a 2-0 victory over Everton U21 to move top of the table in the International Cup, writes Cole Osman at Goodison Park.
Albareda Fortuny scored a brace with the first coming right on the stroke of half time after he volleyed it home from the edge of the six-yard box.
The second came right at the end of the game after some great football from Madrid found the feet of Fortuny who slotted it home to seal the victory.
The dismissal of Jack Patterson, who was shown a straight red card after a bad tackle on the goalscorer, made it hard for the Blues to get into the game.
Real controlled the ball from start to finish with Everton not really managing to trouble Los Blancos throughout having just one shot on target in the first half.
The game began slowly with Madrid maintaining possession in the opening period while Everton didn’t really see much of the ball.
The first major chance came in the 16th minute after a clumsy tackle from William Tamen on Lorenzo Zúñiga saw Madrid earn a penalty. But a huge save from George Pickford denied Manuel Angel and kept it level.
Everton defended well throughout the first half but just couldn’t keep Madrid at bay as they scored just moments before the break after some scrappy deflections saw Fortuny find the bottom corner.
Matters only got worse for the Blues as Francis Gomez pulled up injured right on the half, forcing him to be replaced by Harvey Foster.
The second half began as the first ended with Madrid dominating.
Frustration began to build for the young Toffees that eventually saw Patterson dismissed in the 65th minute for a late and high tackle on Fortuny.
The red card saw Madrid ramp up the pressure as more chances; the best coming in the 78th minute after an effort from Palacios from the centre of the box was volleyed just wide.
Everton’s best chance of the match came in the 88th minute after George Finney made a great driving run down the line and managed to whip in a dangerous cross that saw Omari Benjamin slide in and knock it narrowly past the post.
Despite Everton’s best efforts Real kept control and played some neat football leading to De LLanos playing a cut back to Manuel Angel which was dummied before Fortuny slotted his second and sealed the victory in the 96th minute.
Everton will now be hoping to turn things around before their fixture next week against PSV.
