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Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help Real Madrid open their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win over Apoel on Wednesday. The breakthrough came on the counter-attack in the 12th minute as Isco ran past a series of defenders before laying the ball off to Bale, whose low cross through the box came perfectly to Ronaldo, who made the finish look easy. Madrid were soon dealt a blow however, when Mateo Kovacic injured himself while passing and was replaced by Toni Kroos. Ronaldo came close to adding a second goal in the 34th minute but couldn't turn a sliding effort on target, and early in the second half came inches from scoring when his volley hit the crossbar and came down on the goalline. The Portuguese star pleaded with the fourth official, though goal-line technology showed that only about half the ball had crossed the line. But his second did come five minutes later after Roberto Lago was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, and Ronaldo despatched the penalty. Sergio Ramos added a third goal in the 61st minute after Bale's header took a high deflection, and the defender adjusted his body to put the ball into the net with an overhead kick. Ronaldo momentarily thought he had his hat trick in the 85th minute, but he was clearly offside.
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APO
