Real Madrid Survives Schalke Scare to Reach Q’final

Porto hits last eight

Real Madrid survived a real scare to qualify for their fifth successive UEFA Champions League quarter- final despite conceding four away goals to an impressive Schalke. Madrid who lost 3-4 yesterday qualified 5-4 on aggregate.

The holders were hanging on in the final few seconds as Schalke were just one goal away from producing one of the competition’s biggest shocks.

Trailing 2- 0 after the first leg, two headers from Cristiano Ronaldo twice cancelled out Schalke leads, given to them by goals from Christian Fuchs and Klaas- Jan Huntelaar

Karim Benzema gave the hosts the advantage on the night after the break but efforts from Leroy Sane and Huntelaar saw Schalke move just one goal away from qualification.

Elsewhere on the night, Porto reached the Champions League last eight for the first time since 2009 with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Basel.

The Portuguese side were without top scorer Jackson Martinez, but they struck four fine goals as Yacine Brahimi curled in a 20- yard free- kick.

Hector Herrera doubled the lead before Casemiro thundered in a free- kick.

Vincent Aboubakar then added a fourth late on before Walter Samuel saw red as Porto extended their unbeaten run in this competition to 10 games.

The 2004 Champions League winners were rarely troubled by the Swiss side, who qualified from their group at Liverpool’s expense.

And although many big European teams will see Porto as a good team to draw in the quarter- finals, they have gained a great deal of momentum under Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui.

Basel, who were hoping to reach the last eight for the first time since 1974, were left licking their wounds on a miserable night for their Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa.