Midfielder Sami Khedira’s fortunate goal 20 minutes from time gave Real Madrid a 2-1 victory over Santos Laguna in Las Vegas.
A record 29,300 crowd at the Sam Boyd Stadium saw Xabi Alonso give Jose Mourinho’s men the lead after just 13 minutes, the former Liverpool man curling the ball home from outside the box with the ball going through the loose netting in Oswaldo Sanchez’s goal.
With both sides struggling to overcome the stifling 38 degrees heat, the Mexican champions got back on level terms 12 minutes later through Christian Suarez as the Ecuador striker got free of the Madrid defence before rifling a left-footed shot past Iker Casillas.
Mourinho sent out an entirely different line-up for the second half and Karim Benzema almost restored the lead with a stinging shot that Sanchez turned behind for a corner.
However, Los Blancos did take the lead on 70 minutes, albeit in somewhat fortuitous circumstances when the Santos keeper palmed a ball straight into the face of a bemused Khedira, who was grateful to see it fly into an empty net.
The pace understandably dropped towards the end of the game, although Santos could have salvaged a draw on 81 minutes when Antonio Adan did well to prevent Carlos Darwin Quintero in a one-on-one situation.
Nonetheless, Madrid held on to record their second successive victory on their pre-season tour of the United States following the 5-1 stroll against David Beckham’s Los Angeles Galaxy.
Real Madrid 2-1 Santos Laguna
Scorers: Xabi Alonso 13 (RM), Suarez 25 (S), Khedira 70 (RM)
Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Albiol, Varane, Coentrao; Granero, Xabi Alonso, Ozil; Ronaldo, Jese, Higuain
Substitutes used: Adan, Nacho, Pepe, Ramos, Sahin, Diarra, Khedira, Morata, Kaka, Alex, Callejon, Benzema
Santos Laguna: Sanchez; Ibanez, Estrada, Baloy, Galindo; Suarez, Rodriguez, Luduena, Salinas, Hercules Gomez; Quintero
Substitutes used: Alanis, Ramirez, Crosas, Lugo, Martinez, Escoboza, Adachi
Referee: Toledo (USA)
