Galatasaray 3 - 2 Real Madrid (UEFA Champions League, Quarter-finals, 2nd Leg)

Real Madrid secured their passage to their third consecutive Champions League semi-final in the Ali Sami Yen. They didn’t take long to go ahead. Cristiano Ronaldo needed just seven minutes to score his tenth goal in the competition and show what makes him the European Cup’s top scorer. Eboue, Sneijder and Drogba brought about some uncertainty in the tie in the second half and gave a home crowd that supported their team until the end a reason to believe that the comeback was on, but once again the Portuguese, in added time and despite playing with one less because of Arbeloa’s sending off for a second yellow in the 89th minute, sealed the qualification. The Whites are now into the last four in Europe and on Friday, at 12:00, they will find out their opponents.

Ronaldo's brace seals semi-final place

The intentions of both teams were more than evident from the outset. Galatasaray wanted to make their fans to think back to their memorable European comeback against the Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax in 1988-89 in which they turned around the tie in what was a "night for the history books", as Fatih Terim said in the pre-match build-up. Real Madrid who themselves are accustomed to dominating in front of their own home fans, knew the recipe to make sure that this did not occur. Mourinho explained what the key was: "We have prepared seriously for a very difficult match and my players will respond". And that is what happened. The Whites were able to contain the initial pressure from their opponents and had the first chance of the match following a poor clearance by Muslera in the 3rd minute, which Di Maria failed to convert to put his team ahead on the scoreboard. The connection between the Germans Ozil and Khedira ended with Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot in front of goal in the 7th minute.