Champions League | Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich: How Cristiano Ronaldo's fabulous hat-trick was overshadowed by controversial refreeing

Around 70,000 supporters gathered wearing the royal white at the Plaza de Los Sagrados Corazones, where Madridistas conventionally meet before entering the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu before a Champions League clash. The sight is intimidating if you particularly belong to the 500 odd travelling fans who get to cheer their team, from one obscure northern stand of the gigantic stadium. 

The plot was perfectly set up for the Madridistas to play the 12th man once again, as Bayern Munich travelled to Madrid for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final looking to turn around a tie which had almost slipped away from their hands at the Allianz Arena following a Javi Martinez red card just after the 50th minute and Madrid managed to end their 16 match unbeaten European streak with a 1-2 scoreline after 90 minutes. 

But, the Bavarians are known to give their all until the final whistle and rightly some call the clash between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as the 'European Classico'. Zidane's men knew that if they are to create history by reaching seventh straight Champions League final, they have to endure hell-fire for further 90 minutes and their 'fallen angels' would hurt them the most. Arjen Robben and Xabi Alonso once dawned the all-white and they were the ones who caused maximum problems for Real Madrid, apart from Thiago Alcantara.

Arjen Robben remained the live wire for the Die Roten throughout the match and whenever Robben collected the ball, two to three white shirts cordoned him. He was ably supported by Philip Lahm who made outrageous overlaps and Marcelo had to continuously keep an eye on his guild runs. Robben made three key passes in the match and floated in 5 delightful crosses in the box but each time the attempt was snuffed out by either Ramos or Nacho. Bayern's first goal was from a spot kick when Robben drew a foul from Casemiro as he had just danced past the Brazilian. 

Bayern had a brilliant start to the game and Madrid found a first distant sight of goal only at the 22nd minute. Xabi Alonso and Thiago controlled the midfield but each with distinctly different responsibilities. Thiago and Arturo Vidal tried to link up the play and maintained a steady supply to Lewandowski. They decided whether to switch play, stretching Real Madrid's defence or whether to make runs down the middle and come up with a through ball. Their long diagonal balls to each of their wingers Ribery and Robben had pushed Madrid to defend deep and rely only on counter-attacks. Throughout the match, Thiago was the silent assassin, who split up Real's defence with four key passes and an overall pass accuracy of 87.5%.

Zidane's ploy to put Isco on top of the diamond of a four-man midfield left acres of space behind both Modric and Kroos the two wide midfielders which were being continuously exploited by the Bayern wingers. Madrid patiently absorbed the pressure for the opening half hour and then changed gears. Each time they went forward, they looked menacing and Karim Benzema once again perfectly played the linking role which he must, when Cristiano is playing centrally more than ever. The Frenchman was given complete freedom to move around and he swung like a pendulum across the attacking third. 

The first half saw a direct and daring pressing football from both sides, with Bayern being the more dominant side looking for their precious away goal. Meanwhile, Vidal and Casemiro went into the books of the referee for two needless challenges. In the second half, Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai chose to steal the limelight with decisions only he can explain. Post match Bayern Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said,"For the first time, I feel this mad anger inside of me," to the players and VIP guests at the midnight banquet in the team hotel. "We've been cheated. We've been cheated, in the true sense of the word."

Yes, Bayern has been on the receiving end of horrendous decisions both from the referee and the linesman, but so have been Real Madrid. Arturo Vidal was wrongly sent off in the 84th minute, as he clearly won the ball with his challenge against Marco Asensio. But, did he deserve to be on the field for 36 more minutes after his silly challenge on Casemiro, just at the edge of the box on the 48th minute? Certainly not. The victim of Vidal's challenge Casemiro also should have got marching orders just four minutes after the incident in the 52nd minute, after he dangled his leg in Robben and Bayern was only awarded a penalty. Casemiro was given the responsibility to go for the tackles as mid-field duo Kroos and Modric were on the knife's edge after accumulating a total of four yellow cards. Another yellow, and they would have been out of the first leg of the semi-final. Throughout the match, Ramos did not go for any final tackle, so did Kroos and Modric only once. He continued to contain Robben and Lewandowski, just by hanging around them like a shadow and whenever he got the ball he sought to clear the lines. But, Vidal continued to be flamboyant, and let his tackles flow whereas Casemiro put on self-restraint.

In the first leg, Vidal ballooned the penalty for the stars, but should the penalty been taken on the first place? NO. The ball did not touch Carvajal's hand when Ribery fired a shot from close range. But the most criminal offence was committed by the linesman when Ronaldo's second goal stood legit when the Portuguese international was about a yard off-side after Douglas Costa moved ahead when Ramos played the ball in. Bayern, although reduced to 10 men was continuously barging Real's defence. In the 103rd minute Douglas Costa, broke down the left side with a scintillating before Carvajal saw the danger of conceding a corner. But after Ronaldo's goal, Munich was psychologically broken down. They had players like Hummels, Boateng and Lewandowski who had come on the pitch with the risk of aggravating their injuries and decisions like this only feels like a stab in the back. 

Marcelo and Cristiano have been the two-star players for Real Madrid. Marcelo single-handedly denied two goals to Munich. On the 9th minute, he put his body on the line, to see off a goal-bound shot by Thiago. But his 50th-minute goal-line clearance is more vital. Navas was beaten and if it had gone in, then Bayern would have been 0-2 up within three minutes and Madrid would have had one step out of the tournament. He is listed as a left back, but no player on the pitch gets as much freedom as Marcelo does. He was the chief counter attack outlet and created boatloads of chances on the break. His work-rate throughout the match can be compared to a muscle car engine, who just refuses to buckle down. Behind Cristiano's third goal, Marcelo was the primary architect as he meandered past defenders as if he was running on the training ground. 

Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Cristiano Ronaldo. He was a lurking presence in Bayern's defence and his knack of camouflaging his runs behind defenders once again reaped benefits for him. For the first goal, he bisected both Lahm and Boateng and got his header beyond the reach of Neuer. He was scandalously off-side for his second goal, but little does it matter to him who is always gunning for goals and glory. His insatiable quest for victory once again came to the forefront in the 101st minute when he fired a shot wide after a good build up play and gave out a cry of frustration. He put 5 of his 9 shots on target and converted 3 of them. Stats of a typical poacher. Barcelona, when they visit on Sunday must be wary of a Funchal tornado.

But, when Bayern will retrospect back in Munich they will feel that Madrid did more to get some extra ounces of luck. Bayern dominated proceedings for the king size of the match but failed to stitch up more shots on goal. Out of their total 20 shots, only 2 were on goal including a goal-line clearance from Marcelo. On the other hand, Madrid managed to test Neuer 11 times out of their attempted 30. Passing accuracy clocked to 85% for each team and both played 32% of their passes with attacking intention. Defensively, Madrid was a much more disciplined side, as they had more blocks (8 to 6), interceptions (20 to 15) and clearances (17 to 16) and Bayern just put their nose ahead in recoveries (68 to 66). Zidane also brought in timely substitutes with Asensio and Lucas Vasquez as protection on the wings when Bayern was continuously running riot down the flanks. His decision to sacrifice Benzema and move Cristiano to a more central role paid dividends as the Portuguese has become more clinical in the box rather than racing past defenders.

Zidane was seen smiling after Asensio buried the tie with a solo goal in the 112th minute, but full well he knows that alarm bells went ringing around the Bernabeu when Ramos let in that own goal. Real Madrid's shaky defence is an open secret and even teams like Sporting Gijon have the audacity to put two past Madrid. A lapse of concentration at crucial moments have been the primary problem of Real's defence and if Marcelo did not pull off those two saves then Madrid would have been out of the tournament. The scoreline might be flattering but the French wizard is conscious that when they face Barcelona on Sunday, MSN will not leave any opportunity to inflict pain to raise their bid for the league title.