| Goals | Goals |
|---|---|
| 20. Gonzalo Higuain (26’) | 21. Zoran Tosic (77’) |
| 7. Cristiano Ronaldo (55’) | |
| 9. Karim Benzema (70’) | |
| 7. Cristiano Ronaldo (90 + 4’) |
Ronaldo fires Madrid into quarterfinals
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace as Real Madrid defeated CSKA Moscow 4-1 in their second leg clash to book their place in the quarterfinals of the European Champions League.
Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema scored the other goals for the Whites while Zoran Tosic scored the consolation goal for CSKA.
The first leg which was played in Moscow a fortnight ago ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Army Men had a golden chance to open the scoring in the seventh minute when Seydou Doumbia received a great pass from Alan Dzagoev on the right, but the Ivorian fired his shot over the crossbar.
The visitors threatened again five minutes later when Ahmed Musa raced into space on the right before crossing to Doumbia, but he failed to connect and the ball rolled across the face of goal.
Madrid then started to gain more control on the match and created their first real chance of the match in the 17th minute when Ronaldo beat his marker on the left before playing the ball across for Higuain.
The original pass was cleared by a defender, but the rebound fell kindly for Kaka who then fired a low shot wide of the post.
However, the opening goal arrived in the 24th minute from a great move which saw Sami Khedira playing a great diagonal pass to find Kaka on the left side of the box who then played the ball across for Higuain to finish from close range, 1-0.
The Russian side would have a chance to level matters eight minutes later when Musa turned on the edge of the penalty area before firing on target, but Iker Casillas was able to tip the ball over the crossbar.
Jose Mourinho’s men then started to increase the tempo in the second half and doubled their lead through a soft goal in the 52th minute when Ronaldo took a shot from outside the box which goalkeeper Sergey Chepchugov should’ve dealt with, but instead he spilled the ball into his own net, 2-0.
Doumbia, who is the club’s leading goal scorer this season, squandered another chance in the 64th minute when he missed the target after racing around Casillas.
Karim Benzema replaced Higuain late in the 69th minute and spent just over thirty second on the park before scoring Madrid’s third goal.
Mesut Ozil played a great through pass towards the French striker and although his first shot was blocked by goalkeeper Chepchugov, he was able to slot in the rebound, 3-0.
Then Leonid Slutsky’s side had a glimmer of hope in the 77th minute when Zoran Tosic received a pass from Dzagoev and turned Pepe inside out before drilling an unstoppable shot towards the top left corner, 3-1.
The visitors came close to reducing Madrid’s lead to one goal in the 82nd minute when subsitute Tomas Necid created space on the edge of the area before firing towards goal, but his strike went straight to Iker Casillas.
CSKA continued to commit men forward in search of the second goal but they left themselves vulnerable to counter-attacks and were eventually punished in added time when Benzema ran free on the right.
The Frenchman spotted Ronaldo running into the box and unselfishly played the ball across for him to tap into an open net to hand Madrid a 4-1 win on the night and a 5-2 win on aggregate.
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