Real Madrid 6-2 Dinamo Zagreb: Spanish giants crush hapless Croatians to rubber-stamp top spot in Group D

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The hosts made the best start possible and were on the scoresheet in the first minute of the match. Ozil found space on the byline and cut a pass into the box for Benzema to take a touch and coolly slot the ball into the bottom right corner, to score Madrid's fastest goal in Champions League history - a mere 85 seconds.

Jose Mourinho's side doubled their lead within five minutes. A fantastic crossfield pass from Ozil found the head of Callejon, who leapt well to flick the ball on to Benzema. The Frenchman then quickly turned and returned the pass to his team-mate, who emphatically drove the ball into the left corner.

Things went from bad to worse for Zagreb just three minutes later. Lassana Diarra played a ball into space for Higuain down the right-hand side, and the Argentine drove forward before cleverly turning inside and delightfully flicking the ball over the oncoming Ivan Kelava with his weaker foot. It was a sublime finish, and all be secured victory within the opening 10 minutes of the contest.

But Madrid weren't finished there. Germany international Ozil made it 4-0 to the home side in the 20th minute; Higuain showed impressive strength to fend off challenges coming in from the right wing before lashing a shot at goal with his left foot. Zagreb goalkeeper Kelava made the save, but Ozil retrieved the rebound and passed the ball into the open goal.

Jose Mourinho's relentless side started the second half the same way they had begun the first, damaging the spirit of Zagreb with an early goal, and it could not have arrived in more simple fashion. Raphael Varane clipped the ball over the Zagreb defence from his own half and Callejon took the ball down before powering forward and passing the ball into the right corner.

The Spaniards made it 6-0 courtesy of an excellent piece of link up play outside the Zagreb box. Benzema played a pass into the feet of Higuain and the striker flicked the ball back into the path of his team-mate, who went through to slot precisely into the corner.

Zagreb, to their credit, rallied in the last 10 minutes and were able to grab two consolation goals. Fatos Beqiraj popped up in the 81st minute to score an excellent header at the near post after latching on to a well-placed cross by Luis Ibanez. The Croatian side struck again in the dying minutes of the game, after Milan Badelj took advantage of some miscommunication in the Madrid ranks to slide a cross to the back post for Ivan Tomacek to smuggle over the line.

Real Madrid retain top spot in Group D after notching up 15 points from five matches and will progress as winners of the group. Dinamo Zagreb find themselves bottom of the group with five losses out of five games, and have now conceded 15 times, more than any other side in the competition.