Van der Vaart scores in Real Madrid debut

Rafael van der Vaart made his debut for Real Madrid and celebrated this event by scoring his first goal wearing the white shirt.

In a friendly with Colombian side Santa Fé, at El Campín stadium of Bogotá on Thursday, Van der Vaart netted the equaliser after 71 minutes.

The Dutchman sent a powerful shot past goalkeeper Julio, and provided the assist for Pepe to score the winning goal just three minutes later.

But Madrid weren’t given an easy time by their hosts, who were in fact the stronger side in the first half and took a deserved lead through Luis Seijas just before the break.

The Spanish giants would not finish the match with eleven players on the pitch as Michel Salgado was ex-pulsed in the 20th minute.