UEFA Champions League
Result: Borussia Dortmund 1-3 Real Madrid
Date: 26 September 2017
Venue: Signal Iduna Park
An inspired performance from Cristiano Ronaldo led Real Madrid to a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in a thrilling Tuesday night Champions League clash at Signal Iduna Park.
The game got off to a fast start, with Dani Carvajal forcing Roman Bürki into a good save as early as the 10th minute.
At the other end, Sergio Ramos cleared a Max Philipp shot four minutes later following a deflection off Keylor Navas, which came just as it was about to cross the goal line. In the process, the Spanish defender touched the ball with his hand, but referee Björn Kuipers was unmoved.
In the 18th minute, Real Madrid opened the scoring in style. An inch-perfect aerial ball from Carvajal found Gareth Bale and the Welshman stroked it into the net effortlessly with a stunning left-footed volley.
Bale also became the first player in the referee's book in the 29th minute due to an unsavoury aerial challenge on Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
10 minutes later, Carvajal was booked for a challenge on Philipp, with Luka Modric following him into the book straight afterwards following a dispute with Kuipers regarding the placement of the free-kick wall.
Dortmund looked dangerous on the break at times, but Real Madrid had the better chances in the first half and the visitors went into the break 1-0 up.
Four minutes into the second half, the Spaniards doubled that lead as Gareth Bale played the ball across the ground from the left into the box. Cristiano Ronaldo directed it past Bürki with a well-executed finish.
Ömer Toprak was yellow carded in the 52nd minute for a hefty challenge on Isco, with Dortmund's frustration showing. However, the hosts were given a lifeline in the 54th minute when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang beat Ramos to the end of a Gonzalo Castro cross from the left and scored a crucial goal. In the 63rd minute, Julian Weigl was booked for a crunching challenge on Ronaldo — his first involvement in the game after coming on in a substitute. Clearly unperturbed, Ronaldo scored his second goal 16 minutes later — timing his run perfectly, getting on the end of a fine pass from Modric, and smashing the ball into the net. That goal proved to be the winner as Real Madrid held on to claim their second victory in as many Group H games. Not long after sitting out five matches for pushing a referee, Ronaldo showed Zinedine Zidane exactly what he had been missing.
