CL Report: Madrid Offer Real Lesson To Bayern

At the Bernabau of Madrid, Real defeated Bayern Munich thanks to a first half goal by Zinedine Zidane, which qualified the Spanish champions to the next round of the Champions League.

Exciting first half with both teams looking to find an early goal. Bayern enjoyed a good ball possession, however they were unable to pass through the white shirts and had to rely mostly on long distance shots. Real on the other hand were able to make better use of their ball possession and creating good goal scoring opportunities.

The German side had the first shot on goal when after 5 minutes Makaay's shot from outside the epnalty area was well held by Casillas. Real were not impressed and they had a similar chance 5 minutes later when Guti's shot from the distance went just high. Queiroz's team did not risk much and the match became more quiet until the last 15 minutes of the first half.

In fact in the 32nd minute, Zidane was quick to acrobatically deflect the ball in the net following Beckham's cross and a flick-on by Salgado which found the Frenchman all alone inside the penalty area ready to pounce on the ball and give the lead to the home side.

Bayern reacted, and in the 40th minute a superb first timer by Ze Roberto was well saved by Casillas. The same keeper made an incredible save 5 minutes later when from a Bayern counter attack, Casillas deflected in corner a Makaay shot just inside the penalty area.

From the resulting corner kick, Casillas was unable to clear and the ball finished on the feet of Pizarro whose shot towards the goal was cleared off the line by Salgado.

In the second half Real limited themselves to controlling the match and result and proved to their critics that they are as good defensively as they are going forward. In fact Bayern were unable to create many clear goal scoring opportunities and only the entrance on the playing field of impressive 19-year-old Schweinster added flair to an otherwise sterile and unconvincing Bayern who had difficulty in going past the midfield line.

In fact it was Real who had the first real chance of the second half when in the 68th minute, a Beckham freekick just grazed the post. 7 minutes later it was Solari who from the edge of the penalty area sent the ball just inches wide.

Bayern pushed harder but it was still Real who went closest when in the 80th Guti's close range shot was well saved by Kahn. Towards the end of the match Raul nearly made it 2 goals for Real, but after dribbling past Kahn, his shot hit the outside netting giving the illusion of the goal to his fans.

In the end it was a fair result where the more technical team went through while a nervous Bayern side will regret Ballack's poor form and lack of creativity in the midfield as Real Madrid reach quarter finals of the Champions League.