Manchester, England – Real Madrid advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals with 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday, a victory that did not transpire without a fair bit of controversy.
After falling behind from a Sergio Ramos own goal, Real took advantage of Nani's questionable ejection to bag two goals in the span of three minutes as Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo powered the Spanish side to a 3-2 aggregate win over 10-man United.
A scoreless opening period saw United come out of the gates flying for the second half, grabbing a goal within three minutes of the restart.
A shot from Michael Carrick was parried to the side by Diego Lopez, but Nani was able to track down the loose ball on the side of the box and send it back into the danger area. The delivery was met by Danny Welbeck, but his redirection was turned in by Ramos at the top of the six-yard box.
United appeared to be in control of the match until 56th minute when referee Cuneyt Cakir issued a straight red card to Nani for a high challenge on Alvaro Arbeloa. The Portuguese winger leapt in an attempt to control a bouncing ball but instead caught Arbeloa's torso with his studs. There appeared to be no malicious intent as Nani's eyes were fixated on the ball the entire time, but the Turkish referee reduced United to 10 men, nonetheless.
Jose Mourinho immediately brought Modric into the match and the Croatian attacker leveled the score for the visitors within seven minutes of his introduction, bending a lovely right-footed strike from distance off of David De Gea's near post and into the back of the net.
Madrid went in front shortly after as Gonzalo Higuain slid a low cross to the back post for Ronaldo to convert in the 69th minute.
With Real Madrid netting two away goals, United faced the tall order of having to score twice in the final 20 minutes to advance.
The home side came close on multiple occasions, but Lopez was heroic in producing several key saves to stifle the Red Devils.
After six minutes of added time, Cakir eventually blew the final whistle amid a chorus of boos and stern protests from United players.
Borussia Dortmund 3, Shakhtar Donetsk 0
Dortmund, Germany - Borussia Dortmund cruised to a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday, bringing the German club through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 5-2 aggregate score.
The two sides played to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg, but the return match belonged to Dortmund as Felipe Santana nodded the home side in front in the 31st minute before Mario Gotze doubled the club's advantage six minutes later.
Jakub Blaszczykowski wrapped up the victory just before the hour mark, capitalizing on a gaffe from goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov to slot home a bobbled rebound from close range.
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