Real Madrid have claimed the Australian leg of the 2015 International Champions Cup with a scintillating 4-1 victory over Manchester City.
More than 99,000 fans were on hand to see Cristiano Ronaldo and co dismantle the 2014 Premier League champions in what was the highest attendance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the round ball code, eclipsing the 95,446 that saw Melbourne Victory take on Liverpool in 2013.
The Australian football public were treated to a clinic from Rafa Benitez's Los Blancos who scored three times prior to the break before adding another in the second half to come away with a comfortable result against an opponent who were lacking key men in defence in the form of captain Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis.
16-year-old Cameron Humphreys and 20-year-old Jason Denayer, who spent last season on loan at Celtic, were asked by Manuel Pellegrini to man central defence and it was certainly a baptism of fire for the inexperienced pair having to mark the likes of Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
It was Frenchman Benzema, who has been recently linked with Arsenal, who got Real off to a flying start with a superb volley in the 23rd minute.
Welsh winger Bale drove down the right before delivering with his non-preferred foot for Benzema to edge ahead of teammate Ronaldo and fire beyond Joe Hart's outstretched right hand with a sweetly struck right-footed volley.
The second goal came just moments later when Toni Kroos picked out Ronaldo's run with a pinpoint ball allowing the Portuguese to take a touch before toe-poking just before Aleksandar Kolarov's intervention. The ball bobbled over Hart and edged its way over the line prior to the England international clawing it away.
The Spanish giants then found themselves three goals to the good in the 44th minute when Isco put in an inviting outswinging corner which Pepe took advantage of to shirk off his marker and emphatically power a true centre-half's header past Hart.
Then a moment of madness from referee Hiroyuki Kimura who inexplicably pointed to the spot after Sergio Ramos had swatted the ball away after Sterling's neat first touch bobbled up between the pair. The contact clearly came outside the box but nevertheless, Yaya Toure stepped up from 12 yards and coolly beat Keylor Navas who he had an enormous collision with earlier in proceedings.
With just over 15 minutes remaining, Real wrapped it up when substitute Denis Cheryshev made it four with a lovely close range finish from Isco's damaging cross.
That goal essentially concluded an entertaining week in Melbourne which also included Italian giants AS Roma who defeated Real on penalties last Saturday night before City edged them in a shootout after the 2-2 draw on Tuesday.
The overall attendance for the three matches was an impressive 221,262 with tonight's contest making its way into the record book as the MCG's seventh highest all-time crowd for a sporting event.
2015 International Champions Cup - Game 3
Manchester City (ENG): 1 (Yaya Toure (pen) 45+1')
Real Madrid (SPN): 4 (Karim Benzema 7', Cristiano Ronaldo 25', Pepe 44', Denis Cheryshev 74')
MCG, Melbourne, Australia - 99,382
