Real roar their way back to 4-2 win over Monaco

Real Madrid recovered from a goal down at halftime to claim a convincing 4-2 victory against Monaco in a pulsating Champions League quarter-final, first leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Monaco stunned Real when they snatched the lead late in the first half after centre-back Sebastien Squillaci took advantage of hesitation in the Real defence to poke home from close range at the second attempt.

But Real moved up a gear in the second half and equalised seven minutes after the break when substitute centre-back Ivan Helguera bundled in from three metres out after a David Beckham corner had panicked the Monaco defence.

After squandering several good chances to add another goal, Real took the lead when Zinedine Zidane drilled in at the near post after snapping up the rebound form a Luis Figo shot on 70 minutes.

Seven minutes later Figo himself got on the scoresheet to make it 3-1 when he headed in after Monaco keeper Flavio Roma had saved his penalty awarded when Ronaldo had been brought down in the area by Squillaci.

Ronaldo added a fourth when he raced on to a Zidane through ball and shot low past Roma but Monaco gave themselves hope of a second leg fightback when Real old boy Fernando Morientes scored with a terrific header just over a minute later.