Madrid, April 3 (IANS) Real Madrid took a giant step towards qualifying for the semi-finals of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund while 2012 winners Chelsea suffered a massive setback losing 1-3 to French club Paris St.Germain.
Goals from Gareth Bale, Isco and Cristiano Ronald Wednesday helped Real Madrid forget the pain of their semi-final defeat to the German side last season, reports Xinhua.
Gareth Bale opened the scoring in the third minute after accepting a pass from Dani Carvajal as the Borussia defence looked as if they were still in the dressing room. Bale was able to find space in the penalty area to poke the ball into the Borussia net.
On a cold and rainy night in Madrid, the home side adapted faster to the conditions and were clearly motivated, pinning their rivals back in their own half with their swift attacking football.
Meanwhile, despite the efforts of their coach Jurgen Klopp on the touchline, this was not the Borussia which had hit Madrid with waves of players on the counter-attack a year ago.
Following a poor ball out from the visitors’ defence, Isco was able to find space to curl home a neat shot from outside of the penalty area just before the half-hour mark.
The game dropped in intensity after Real Madrid’s second goal, but the start of the second half saw both sides return to hostilities and Ronaldo added a third after Luka Modric had won the ball in the middle of the park to set him through on goal.
Bale fired over for Madrid in the closing minutes, but by then his side were content with a score which means it would need a disaster in Germany next week to see them fail to make the last four.
Meanwhile in Paris, English club Chelsea had a night to forget as Ezequiel Lavezzi, a David Luiz own goal and an injury time goal from Javier Pastore saw PSG record one of their most memorable victories.
Eden Hazard was Chelsea’s only scorer, converting from the penalty spot in the 27th minute.
In Tuesday’s games, Spanish sides Barcelona and Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 while defending champion Bayern Munich were held to a 1-1 draw by English league champions Manchester United.