SAVIOUR & CENTURION: RONALDO RISES AGAIN

SAVIOUR & CENTURION: RONALDO RISES
YET AGAIN AS MADRID MARCH ON
TOWARDS SEMI-FINALS
Ben Hayward


The Portuguese forward had not scored in the
Champions League since later September, but popped
up when it mattered most at the Allianz Arena
COMMENT

Cristiano Ronaldo is back from the dead and back in
the groove. The Real Madrid attacker came into the
Champions League quarter-final clash away to Bayern
Munich without a goal in 613 minutes of European
football but reports of the 32-year-old's demise were
greatly exaggerated.
On Wednesday night at the Allianz Arena, he found his
shooting boots just when he was most needed to leave
Los Blancos within touching distance of the last four.
R onaldo at the double as Madrid beat Bayern
The Portuguese usually converts for fun in the
continental competition, yet he had failed to register
since scoring against Borussia Dortmund early on in
the group stage and even that had only been his
second strike in Europe. Two in eight games prior to
this one.
That led many to question whether he could still do it
against the very best, while former Madrid midfielder
and coach Bernd Schuster even claimed the four-time
Ballon d'Or winner had lost his appetite for goals.
In last season's Champions League, Ronaldo netted 16
times in 12 games en route to the trophy, but all of
those strikes were scored against teams that failed
to qualify for the competition this time around:
Malmo, Shakhtar Donetsk, Roma and Wolfsburg.
However, it would be a brave man to write off
Ronaldo and he came good early in the second half
with a clinical finish as Real sought a way back into
the game after Arturo Vidal's header had given
Bayern the lead in the opening period.
Ronaldo hits 100th goal in Europe
Vidal also blasted a (highly dubious) penalty over the
crossbar late in the first half and it looks like the tie
turned on that moment because after the interval,
Madrid came out with much more intensity and found
their reward with Ronaldo's equaliser on 47 minutes,
when he beat Manuel Neuer with a precise right-
footed effort from a Dani Carvajal cross.
Javi Martinez was then sent off for kicking the
Portuguese and after that, Madrid edged closer and
closer to a winning goal. Bayern were hanging on and
there was Cristiano again to poke through Neuer's
legs after substitute Marco Asensio had curled in an
inviting ball to the 32-year-old.
Bayern boss Carlo Ancelotti had praised Ronaldo
before the game and said he hoped his former player
would start the game on the bench. And ironically,
Cristiano had fought to try and keep the Italian
coach at Madrid when the writing was on the wall for
ex-Milan trainer.
Under Ancelotti, Ronaldo and Madrid produced one of
their most dynamic displays of recent times at the
Allianz Arena in 2014 when Real ran out 4-0 winners
and the Portuguese scored twice in the semi-final
second leg to set a new Champions League goals
record of 17 in a single season.
Isco: Madrid can win Liga & Champions League
Perhaps those happy memories helped the
Portuguese to return to goalscoring form in this
match, his two goals taking him past 100 strikes in
European competition and, more importantly, edging
Madrid closer to the last four of the competition.
After Barcelona's damaging defeat on Tuesday at
Juventus and now this result, Madrid will be
favourites to lift the famous trophy again, having
already won the European Cup on 11 occasions -
including twice in the past three seasons.
And with Ronaldo having risen from the dead once
more to prove that he can still score goals when it
matters most, they will have an even better chance
of winning number 12 in Cardiff in June.

All credits: goal.com