The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Real limp into last eight
Real Madrid survive a stern test from Schalke in the second leg of their Champions League tie to advance to the quarterfinals along with Porto, who blew Basel away.
Holders Real Madrid survived a real scare as they scraped into the quarterfinals 5-4 on aggregate despite a first home Champions League defeat since April 2011.
Schalke striker KlaasJan Huntelaar struck twice to end his former club’s 21-match unbeaten run at the Bernabeu in the competition but the German side could not force the goal in the last six minutes which would have taken them into the quarter-finals.
It was a record-breaking night for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal international twice equalised with first-half headers with the second, moments before half-time, taking him level with Lionel Messi as the Champions League’s joint-highest scorer with 75.
Ronaldo was at least able to claim one outright record himself as his second took him beyond former Real hero Raul to become the player with the most goals in all European competitions (78).
His double strike papered over the cracks of some shambolic defending which had seen Christian Fuchs and Huntelaar give the visitors a real chance of turning around a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.
However, Ronaldo’s second and Karim Benzema’s 20th of the season just after the interval appeared to have taken the game well beyond Schalke’s reach.
But youngster Leroy Sane pulled one back with more than half-an-hour to go and Huntelaar set up a grandstand finish.
Porto reached the last eight with a comfortable 4-0 win over Basel. Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera, Casemiro and Vincent Aboubakar were the scorers for the 2004 Champions League winners.