Not enough: Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty
against Juventus was not enough to see Real Madrid through to the
Peace Cup final.
Juventus downed Madrid 2-1 in the semi-finals of the
Peace Cup last night with former Bernabeu favourite Fabio Cannavaro
and Hasan Salihamidzic netting the Italian side's goals at the
start of either half.
Cannavaro's goal was a glancing header from Alessandro Del
Piero's free-kick, while Salihamidzic netted a similar effort in
the second period, but from a Del Piero corner instead.
That means that all five goals that Madrid have conceded in
their four pre-season games to date have come from set-pieces – all
from headers – and Pellegrini knows it is something they need to
improve on considerably before the start of La Liga later this
month.
"The defending at dead-ball plays is concerning, but we know
that we have worked only a little on that. It's not normal, but
it's not something that right now we are working on very strongly,"
said Pellegrini, who nevertheless was still pleased with his side's
overall performance against Juve on what the coach described was a
"terrible" playing surface at Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan
stadium.
"The team continues progressing game by game," he added.
"The state of the pitch was terrible. We weren't able to enjoy
the game, but you need to try and get over that. I'm happy that the
team managed to do that and stayed true to the same style of play
throughout the match.
"We had clear chances, and the worst things are the dead-ball
plays. We can't concede so many goals like that, we will have to
work on that."
The world's most expensive player, Cristiano Ronaldo, scored his
second goal – and second penalty – in a Real shirt.
The 23-year-old Portuguese star – who cost Real around 94
million euros when he joined from Manchester United – slotted the
ball past Gianluigi Buffon in the 41st minute after Giorgio
Chiellini brought down Raul.
Juventus will meet Aston Villa on Sunday after Martin O'Neill's
side beat FC Porto 2-1 to reach the final.