An early goal for Gonzalo Higuain was enough to give Real Madrid a 1-0 victory over Valencia on Saturday and the first win for Juande Ramos as coach.

Real bounced back from the 2-0 defeat against Barcelona last weekend to score after just three minutes with Higuain firing home after good work from Arjen Robben.

In fact Robben was the key player in the early stages of the match and a constant threat for Valencia, setting up Rafael van de Vaart who hit the post and then he himself saw a shot cleared off the line after he had rounded the keeper.

Valencia though gradually came back into the contest and Iker Casillas made a series of stops from David Villa.

In the second half Real were hanging on with Casillas parrying a Ruben Baraja strike on to a post but the pressure eased mid-way through the half following the expulsion of Carlos Marchena for his second yellow card.

(AFP via Shanghai Daily December 22, 2008)