He has so
often been under-appreciated at the Santiago Bernabeu but even by his
high standards this one man show was something extraordinary and will go
down as one of the greatest individual performances in a Real Madrid
shirt.
It
was a measure of importance of the win that the Real Madrid players
came back out on to the pitch for a curtain call five minutes after the
final whistle. The stadium was still rocking to the sound of a comeback
success made possible by Ronaldo's prolific finishing.
His
opening goal came on 16 minutes. He had drifted into centre-forward
territory with Karim Benzema moving out to the left. Wolfsburg were
giving the ball away nervously and when Dani Carvajal won possession
back and drove into the area Ronaldo sensed his chance for comeback goal
No 1.
That
poacher's instinct that he has – so often overlooked because of his
more super-human gifts – took him into the right space on the edge of
the six-yard box, and when Carvajal put the ball there he turned it past
Diego Benaglio.
As
he raced back to his own half, ball in hand, there was barely time for
Wolfsburg to compose themselves, and they found themselves 2-0 down.
Toni Kroos delivered the pinpoint corner and Ronaldo attacked the near
post to arrive first and bury his header. Madrid were level on
aggregate.
For
the biggest match so far of his 100 days in charge Zinedine Zidane had
picked the same team that won him El Clasico two weeks earlier and they
were starting this game as they ended that one.
They
had almost scored from their first corner on five minutes when Sergio
Ramos' stooping header from Kroos' corner skimmed the crossbar. And when
Modric played a fine one-two with Benzema inside the area he might have
scored himself had he not tried to feed Ronaldo instead.
Despite
their flying start Real still needed a third and had to guard against an
away goal from the Germans. The likelihood of that seemed to have been
reduced on the half hour when Julian Draxler limped off. He had
destroyed Real Madrid in the first leg now he had made way for Max Kruse
with an hour still remaining.
The
threat had not completely disappeared however and Keylor Navas had to
tip over from Luiz Gustavo's shot. Bruno Henrique should then have
scored from Andre Schurrle's cross but took an age to take aim and had
three Real Madrid defenders blocking his shot when he finally made
contact with the ball.
It
had been the perfect first half storm from Madrid with Ronaldo scoring
the goals and full-back Carvajal also outstanding. He had made the
first, and been involved in the second. Draxler had also found him far
tougher to deal with than Danilo who played at right back in the first
leg.
It was
Carvajal who took the game to Wolfsburg in the second half with his
direct running. Ronaldo fired a free-kick against the defensive wall
after he had been brought down but he lost his temper with team-mates
after a lack of movement from them at a throw-in. The job was not
finished.
On
65 minutes the home team's nerves were so nearly calmed. Kroos' corner
was headed onto the post by Ramos and came down on the line with Bale
left remonstrating with the match official that the ball had crossed the
line.
Dante
headed weakly at Navas at the other end as Wolfsburg reminded Real
Madrid of their threat but then Modric broke and was fouled and Ronaldo
had his chance single-handedly put Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
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| Pepe gives the match ball to Ronaldo who prepares to hide it under his Real home shirt after scoring a sensational hat-trick |
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