Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Champions League - Bale and Ronaldo score as Real Madrid put one foot in semis

                        2014Real Madrid's Gareth Bale (R) celebrates with teammates Daniel Carvajal (L) and Xabi Alonso after scoring a goal against Borussia Dortmund during their Champions League quarter-final first leg                                         
Real Madrid built a strong lead and probably insurmountable lead in their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Borussia Dortmund, with a comfortable 3-0 win at the Bernabeu.
Dortmund, finalists in this competition last year, have had that their side decimated by injury and looked a shadow of their former selves.

Real wasted little time in exploiting this fact, with revenge for last year’s semi-final defeat in their minds, when Gareth Bale showed good feet to poke them ahead from close range in only the third minute.
The visitors looked stunned and a period of Real dominance followed before they broke from a Dortmund corner to add a second through Isco after 27 minutes, the young Spaniard, deputising for Angel Di Maria who was taken ill prior to kick-off, shooting low from the edge of the box.
Real took their foot off the gas in the second-half and allowed Dortmund a lot more time and space in which to attack them but, just as the visitors looked to build up a head of steam, Ronaldo, on his 100th Champions League appearance, received a precise through ball from Luka Modric to finish tidily in the area.
Marco Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang worked hard in attack for Dortmund and created plenty of opportunities to grab a vital away goal but couldn’t add the killer touch needed to beat Iker Casillas.
The closest call came on the hour mark when Casillas spilt a Reus cross at the feet of Mkhitaryan but Pepe was able to get a block in.
With Robert Lewandowski returning for the second leg, Dortmund will retain faint hope of turning the tie around.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         posted by Emanto Ngaloru  April 2, 2014.                                                                                                                                                                    

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