MADRID – Cristiano Ronaldo scored with a spectacular header Wednesday as Real Madrid was held to a 1-1 home draw by Manchester United in the last 16 of the Champions League due to a dominant performance by visiting goalkeeper David de Gea.
After Danny Welbeck gave United the lead against the run of play with a header from a 20th-minute corner, Ronaldo rose high to meet Angel di Maria’s swinging cross 10 minutes later for his 183rd goal for Madrid — and first against his former club.
Ronaldo’s goal in the first leg at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium allowed him to eclipse Francisco “Paco” Gento to become Madrid’s sixth-most prolific scorer.
“We began very strong and suddenly they scored and the match took on another form for us,” Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said.
The result means Madrid is now unbeaten in 34 consecutive home matches (27 wins, seven draws) since a Copa del Rey loss to Barcelona on Jan. 18, 2012.
De Gea made several impressive saves, including a fingertip effort onto the post to deny Fabio Coentrao in the first half as well as holding a firmly struck bouncing shot from Sami Khedira after the break.
“Fortunately, David de Gea made some very good saves. He’s been improving all season and he made an absolutely superb save there,” United manager Alex Ferguson said of his oft-maligned goalkeeper’s stop on Coentrao’s attempt.
“The first half I was a bit disappointed by how deep we defended and gave Real a lot of opportunities for crosses and shots.”
The match had been built up as Mourinho against Ferguson and Ronaldo versus Robin van Persie, but the United striker failed to take advantage of several good opportunities. He struck the crossbar with a fierce right-footed strike and forced a save with a low drive later on, however a mishit volley that was cut out by Xabi Alonso as it neared the goal line proved to be his most glaring miss.
By contrast, Ronaldo was a constant menace without ever really threatening to cut loose. He sent several shots passed de Gea’s posts and even landed a 35-meter free kick on the top of the goalkeeper’s net.
“Manchester is a very strong team defensively and they created a few problems for us,” Ronaldo said. “But we really needed to have scored one or two more goals.”
The last time these two teams met at the Bernabeu was in 2003 when Madrid emerged 3-1 winners. But it has been 11 years since Madrid played a knockout Champions League match without goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who was out because of a broken hand and replaced by Diego Lopez.
Mourinho also chose 19-year-old French center back Raphael Varane following his great performance against Barcelona in which he almost single-handedly rescued Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals that ended in a 1-1 draw.
“They came here to defend well,” Mourinho said. “They came here to not concede spaces and goals, and they did not play to win. But they know they have in attack very important players with great potential that out of nothing can create chances and score goals.”
Borussia Dortmund twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Shakhtar Donetsk in the other opening leg of a last-16 series following Mats Hummels’ late equalizer.
Hummels’ powerful header from Marcel Schmelzer’s corner in the 87th minute ensures the defending Bundesliga champions will have the advantage of two away goals in the second leg at home on March 5.
Shakhtar captain Darijo Srna struck first with a free kick in the 31st, the ball sailing over the wall and rendering goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller a bystander as it flew into the net.
Ten minutes later, Dortmund finally converted one of its many chances when Robert Lewandowski found the near corner from just outside the box after having missed his first attempt on goal.
Shakhtar regained the lead when substitute Douglas Costa brought down a long-range pass while between two defenders and 35 meters out from goal to find the net with a shot on the turn in the 69th.
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