As a pair of second half goals from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid seal the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals clash against Bayern Munich with a 2-1 win. While Madrid gained the upper hand at the Allianz Arena there is still another clash remaining at the Bernabeu in a weeks time. Real Madrid will consider themselves fortunate to be just one goal behind at the break but then showed why exactly they are the champions of Europe.
Here are five talking points from the clash:
Cristiano Ronaldo’s brace
With two goals in the second half, Ronaldo helped his side win the match 2-1 to go home with an advantage.
The Portugal captain also became the first player in the UEFA club competition to score 100 goals on Wednesday. Ronaldo scored the first goal of the tournament since September 2016 just two minutes into the second half. The goal powered the side into performing better as they sought control of the ball and the possession to make Bayern pay for a struggling first half. The star striker struck again in the 77th minute with a brilliant nutmeg of Manuel Neur to complete his 100 European goals.
Vidal’s missed penalty
The first half belonged to the home side and Arturo Vidal who almost scored a brace. He found the net in the 25th minute with a powerful header. However, tables turned for the Chile player as he missed an important penalty minutes before the break. The missed penalty proved to be the game changer for the home side who ended up losing the match.
Manuel Neur
Manuel Neur yet again proved why he is currently the best goalkeeper in the world. Coming out of a foot injury, Neur stood as a wall for most parts of the game and it is difficult to imagine the fate of the German side without him. He stood his guard to display some incredible reflexes that led to some top-draw saves from the Real Madrid key strikers BBC – Garthe Bale, Karim Benzema and Ronaldo.
10 men Bayern
Already missing their key player Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller’s bad game made matters worse for the Bundesliga leaders. Javi Martinez picked up two yellow cards in a span of three minutes for fouling Ronaldo, leaving Bayern with just 10 men in an already struggling second half.
Bayern’s 16 home games unbeaten record broken
The La Liga leaders not only managed to shut their ex-boss Anceloti’s side in their own ground but also broke their 16 games unbeaten record at home. The two sides will now meet next week in Madrid for the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals with Real Madrid holding the advantage of home as well as an away goal lead.
News Link : Click Here
EmoticonEmoticon