Raul hands Real Super Copa
A second-half hat-trick from Raul was enough to secure the Spanish Super Copa for Real Madrid who beat Zaragoza 3-0 in the return leg tonight.
A second-half hat-trick from Raul was enough to secure the Spanish Super Copa for Real Madrid who beat Zaragoza 3-0 in the return leg tonight.
The two sides set off at a frantic pace, determined to settle the 1-1 draw from Sunday's first-leg at the Romareda.
Luis Figo came close after eight minutes but his right foot effort from a tight angle whistled past the left post.
Zaragoza were not as focussed as they were in the first leg, some rash play and poor final balls scotched their best chances of the half.
The game took a turn just before the quarter-hour mark when Raul stabbed home from the edge of the box only for Basque referee, Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez, to disallow the goal and award Real a free-kick on the edge of the box instead.
Real still dominated for the rest of the half but found Zaragoza's stubborn defence difficult to break down.
The highlight of the first 45 minutes was a superb lightning quick break from Real, involving Figo, Roberto Carlos and Zinedine Zidane, ending with a diving header from Fernando Morientes, unfortunately, straight at 'keeper Cesar Lainez.
Real completely controlled the second half of the game, while the visitors defended, waiting for the right moment to break on the counter-attack.
However, Real were able to take advantage of the open spaces in the last 45 minutes - Zidane testing Lainez early on from outside the box and substitute Guti heading past the post after 70 minutes.
Real then opened the scoring in the 73rd minute following a corner from the right - skipper Fernando Hierro's header at the far post looked to be entering the net but was judged to have been flicked in by Raul.
The striker grabbed a second eight minutes later in classic Real Madrid style - Figo's sweeping cross from the right was steered past Lainez by the incoming Raul.
Zaragoza found themselves without the resources to respond and went 3-0 down with one minute of normal time to go.
A stinging Savio shot from outside the area was palmed directly to Raul to tap in his third goal of the game.