MTNFootball

Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid

CSKA Moscow scored an equalizer in the final minute of added time to hold Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie at the Luzhniki Stadium on Tuesday night.

Cristiano Ronaldo fired the visitors ahead midway through the first half but the Spaniards were left stunned when debutant Pontus Wernbloom netted the equalizer with seconds to spare.

The home side started brightly with Nigerian winger Ahmed Musa and Ivorian striker Seydou Doumbia using their pace to trouble the Real Madrid defenders.

They created the first chance of the match in the 7th minute when Georgi Schennikov beat his marker for pace on the left before delivering a dangerous cross, but Alan Dzagoev sent his volleyed shot wide of goal.

The visitors were dealt a blow in the 16th minute when Karim Benzema had to leave the field due to injury, with Gonzalo Higuain coming on to take his place.

The Argentine almost scored with his first touch a minute later but his low shot was saved by goalkeeper Sergey Chepchugov, who then pulled off another brilliant save to block Sami Khedira’s shot from the rebound.

Then Real Madrid started get into the game with Ronaldo causing problems on both flanks, and it was the Portuguese who opened the scoring in the 28th minute.

Fabio Coentrao delivered a cross from the left-flank and Zoran Tosic’s headed clearance fell kindly for Ronaldo, who beat Chepchugov with a powerful left-footed shot towards the bottom left corner.

Jose Mourinho’s men had a chance to hit CSKA on the break in the 36th minute but a good run from Ronaldo was stopped illegally by Sergey Ignashevich just outside the penalty area.

Ronaldo had a chance to grab his brace from the resulting freekick but his attempt went straight into the wall, leaving Madrid with the slender 1-0 lead at the break.

Jose Callejon should’ve doubled the lead five minutes after the break when he was put through by a great pass from Ronaldo, but he blasted his shot wide of the target.

Then in the 75th minute Sergio Ramos met a Mesut Ozil corner with a powerful header, but Chepchugov pulled off another good save to keep the Army Men in the game.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper was a hero yet again a minute later as he came out quickly to block another attempt from Ronaldo as he tried to finish from a tight angle.

CSKA found it hard to penetrate through the solid Madrid defence but they almost hit back from a dead ball situation in the 83rd minute when substitute Keisuke Honda managed to get his in-swinging freekick on target, but Iker Casillas was on hand to punch the ball away.

Then Ronaldo squandered another good scoring chance at the other end a minute later after receiving a pass from Kaka just inside box, sending his shot wide with the target in full view.

Those misses proved to be costly in the 93rd minute when the home side won a freekick on the right flank after Fabio Coentrao was adjudged to have handled the ball.

The ball was delivered towards the far post and headed across by Alexey Berezutski for Wernbloom to beat Casillas with a well-timed volley from close range to salvage a home draw for Leonid Slutsky’s side.