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Things were looking good for Bayern when Arturo Vidal (r.) headed home from Xabi Alonso's corner. - © © gettyimages / Matthias Hangst
Things were looking good for Bayern when Arturo Vidal (r.) headed home from Xabi Alonso's corner. - © © gettyimages / Matthias Hangst

Brave Bayern lose out to Real Madrid

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Arturo Vidal scored the opening goal and then missed a penalty as ten-man Bayern Munich lost to Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

Bayern Munich 1 - 2 Real Madrid

Goals: 1-0 Vidal (25’), 1-1 Ronaldo (47'), 1-2 Ronaldo (77’).

Robert Lewandowski was a late withdrawal from the first leg at the Allianz Arena but Bayern were thankful that Manuel Neuer was back between the posts. After 18 minutes, when the returning Toni Kroos saw his cross headed towards goal by Karim Benzema, the Bayern number one reacted just in time to tip the ball onto the crossbar.

Then it became a case of sixth time lucky for the home side as, from their sixth corner, Vidal sent a bullet header crashing past Real keeper Keylor Navas.  But the Chilean headed wide from another good chance late in the half and then blazed a penalty over the bar in first-half stoppage time after Dani Carvajal was harshly adjudged to have handled a Franck Ribery shot.

Neuer had kept out a long-range shot from Cristiano Ronaldo before the break but he was powerless to stop the Real star equalising with a close-range volley on 47 minutes. Gareth Bale had a point-blank header saved before Bayern’s task got even tougher as Javi Martinez picked up two yellow cards in quick succession and was sent off on 61 minutes.

Neuer brilliantly denied Benzema and Ronaldo but the latter stabbed home his 100th goal in European club competitions to give the visitors a precious lead ahead of the return leg.

Man of the match

Neuer had missed Bayern’s past three matches as he underwent surgery on a minor foot injury but he looked extremely sharp on his return. The overworked 31-year-old produced a highlights reel of saves to just about keep the German champions in the tie.

Talking point

Bayern looked in control and wasted chances to go 2-0 up before half-time. They will feel aggrieved to have been down to 10 men so early in the game and missed defender Mats Hummels and their leading scorer Lewandowski but Carlo Ancelotti's side still have a fighting chance of qualifying. Lewandowski could be back for the second leg and they will draw inspiration from the 2012 semi-final, when they travelled to Madrid and went through on penalties.

Match stats

    Neuer had to contend with 23 attempts (12 on target) from Real Madrid.Vidal had more touches (91), completed more passes (66) and had more shots on goal (4) than any other Bayern player.The defending champions won for only the fifth time in 30 matches in Germany.

Line ups

Bayern Munich: Neuer - Lahm, Martinez, Boateng, Alaba – Alonso (Bernat 63'), Vidal, Thiago – Ribery (Costa 66'), Müller (Coman 81'), Robben.

Coach: Carlo Ancelotti

Real Madrid: Navas – Carvajal, Ramos, Nacho, Marcelo – Kroos, Casemiro, Modric (Kovacic 90') – Bale (Asensio 58'), Benzema, Ronaldo.

Coach: Zinedine Zidane