Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo may be on course for his worst domestic goal haul since 2010 but with two strikes against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday he became the first player to score 100 goals in Uefa competitions.
Zinedine Zidane’s side drew with neighbours Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday and looked likely to fall short again after being outplayed by Bayern in the first half before Ronaldo came to the rescue to seal a 2-1 win.
When Arturo Vidal headed the hosts into a 25th-minute lead, Bayern appeared on course for a 17th consecutive European home victory, but the game turned following Vidal’s missed penalty and Ronaldo equalised with a fine volley early in the second period.
Javi Martinez’s sending-off just after the hour mark handed Real the initiative, and the 32-year-old Ronaldo clinched Real’s victory when he beat Manuel Neuer after being picked out by Marco Asensio in the 77th minute.
While the Portugal forward has demonstrated an ability to win matches single-handedly throughout his career, his latest survival act came in an unfamiliar context having struggled to hit the lofty heights he sets himself in La Liga this season.
“Cristiano was unhappy because he couldn’t score a third, that’s how ambitious he is,” Zidane said.
Despite an admirable 19 goals in 24 league appearances, Ronaldo looks unlikely to match the tallies he has managed in his last six seasons (40, 46, 34, 31, 48, 35). And he had previously gone 613 minutes of European football without finding the net - his longest drought for eight years.
Yet he delivered an outstanding second-half performance to reach 100 European goals, with 98 in the Champions League and two coming in Madrid’s 2-0 Uefa Super Cup victory over Sevilla in 2014.
Of Ronaldo’s haul in Europe’s top competition, he has managed 82 for Real, with the other 16 coming for Manchester United, and his double took him four goals ahead of Lionel Messi (94) in the race to become the first player to score 100 Champions League goals.
* MADRID: Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann demonstrated his importance to the club when his lightning pace forced a penalty that gave his side a crucial 1-0 victory over Leicester City in their Champions League quarter-final first leg.
Griezmann has carried Atletico at times this season and it was his break that set up the penalty that he then converted past Kasper Schmeichel.
It was his 24th goal of the season, five of which have come in the Champions League, the competition.
* DORTMUND: Teenager Kylian Mbappe scored twice to give AS Monaco a 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League quarter-final first-leg match that was postponed following an attack on the home team’s bus.
Mbappe gave Monaco a 19th-minute lead shortly after Fabinho had missed a penalty for the visitors, and they went further ahead when Dortmund defender Sven Bender headed into his own net.
Ousmane Dembele pulled one back for Dortmund in the 57th minute but another defensive mistake allowed Mbappe to break away and grab a third goal for the Ligue 1 side. Shinji Kagawa gave the German side hope with a neat finish six minutes from time.