Real crush Steaua 4-1 as Beckham joins 100 Club

Real Madrid turned in a superb performance, striking twice in each half, to beat Steaua Bucharest 4-1 in their pivotal Champions League Group E match on Tuesday.

The win boosted Real's chances of advancing from the group phase to the last 16. They remain second in the table with six points from their three games, three behind Olympique Lyon but three ahead of Steaua who they will be favourites to beat again in Madrid in two weeks time.

The nine-time European champions showed their class throughout the match, keeping Steaua's defence under almost continual pressure and there was little doubt about the outcome after Sergio Ramos put them ahead after nine minutes.

Raul doubled the lead after 34 minutes to extend his record haul of Champions League goals to 54, Robinho made it 3-0 after 56 minutes and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored their fourth 14 minutes from time. He is the second all-time scorer in the Champions League with 46 goals.

Valentin Badea scored a consolation for Steaua after 64 minutes.

The other significant milestone of the night came after 71 minutes when David Beckham replaced Guti to become the third Real Madrid player to make 100 Champions League appearances.

Only Raul (104) and Roberto Carlos (102) have made more appearances in the competition's history.

Van Nisterlooy said afterwards: "If we play like we played today we'll come back to the highest level of European soccer."

Robinho, Sergio Ramos, substitute Ronaldo and Raul all wasted good opportunitites to add to Real's score while Badea and Nicolae Dica missed chances to reduce the gap.

The central defensive pair of Sergio Ramos and Fabio Cannavaro brilliantly dealt with Steaua's rare counter-attacks.

Sergio Ramos, the man of the match, scored for Real from a ninth-minute corner and Raul made it 2-0 in the 34th from a rebound after Steaua goalkeeper Carlos deflected a strike from Van Nistelrooy.

A fast counter-attack put Robihno in an ideal position to score from a tight angle, 11 minutes into the second half.

Steaua substitute Cyril Thereau provided the pass for Badea to score Steaua's only goal from close range, but it was scant consolation for the home side.

"This is the real face of Real Madrid," a happy club president Ramon Calderon said.

Real coach Fabio Capello said: "Today's match made us forget our last poor matches. Now we have to prepare for the (Primera Liga) match against Barcelona."

"I liked Robinho, who played well and when a striker plays well, he pulls the whole team towards the opponents' goal," he added.

"We lost to a much better team," Steaua Bucharest skipper Sorin Paraschiv said. "We just hope to qualify for UEFA Cup."

Van Nistelrooy closed the scoring with a superb lob over Carlos for the finest goal of the match 14 minutes from the end.