Cristiano Ronaldo scored, so did Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid lived to the hype, with both teams serving up some great attacking football in the Champions League. While Dortmund will feel they should have left the Westfalenstadion with all three points, owing to their splendid first half performance, they will also take a lot of confidence from the fact that they, at times, put the defending European champions to the sword.
Had Dortmund been a bit more clinical or seen lady luck camp on their side in the first 15 minutes of the game, they would have been the ones to open the scoring. After a few chances went begging, with the returning Keylor Navas making a couple of solid saves as well, Dortmund should have really been given a penalty when Ronaldo clearly handled the ball in the penalty area.
However, the referee Mark Clattenburg waved play on and a little while later Real Madrid sprang on the counter-attack to score. Luka Modric started the move, finding Karim Benzema on the left, with the Frenchman then playing the ball to Toni Kroos, who, in turn, passed to James Rodriguez on the right. Rodriguez played Gareth Bale through in the penalty box, with the Welshman employing an intelligent backheel to find Ronaldo, whose first-time shot flew past the Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki.
Ronaldo would go over to the bench to celebrate the goal with his Portuguese teammates Pepe and Fabio Coentrao, before a high-five with Zinedine Zidane was exchanged, suggesting the alleged tension between the two was a thing of the past, after the Portugal international was substituted in the 2-2 draw against Las Palmas on Saturday.
Dortmund continued to pepper the Real goal with their lightning attacks, and it was Aubameyang who found the equaliser just before halftime.
Raphael Varane and Andre Schurrle would score a goal each in the second half as the Champions League match ended 2-2.
"The players played a great match," Zidane said. "The result is a difficult one to accept because we deserved a bit more, but it is not a bad result.
"I think in the first half we suffered a bit because they pressed a lot and we knew it is a difficult place to come against a good team, but I am very proud of the game we played. It was complete in every sense but the shame is it is three games in a row now we have drawn. When you concede three minutes from the end it hurts, especially given the effort the players put in."
