ronaldo delivers telling blow published: thursday 20 february 2003, 0.20cet
real madrid cf 2-1 bv borussia dortmund ronaldo makes the difference as madrid respond to the pressure.
on a night when their uefa champions league futures depended on it, real madrid cf's big guns delivered. raúl gonzález and ronaldo got the goals, but it was zinedine zidane who ran the show in victory over bv borussia dortmund at the santiago bernabéu.
ronaldo winner it was zidane's measured cross that allowed ronaldo to touch in the winner on 56 minutes, his first in the champions league for the spanish side, after raúl had cancelled out jan koller's shock opener on the half-hour.
helguera in for hierro madrid, without a win in their previous six champions league matches, fielded their strongest possible xi as they chased the victory they so desperately needed to get their group c campaign back on track. only their injured captain fernando hierro was missing, making room for iván helguera after suspension.
nervy start the european champions went into the match propping up the group after picking up just one point in their opening two matches, and they started as if the pressure weighed heavy. a weak shot from zidane was all they had to show from a nervy opening period and it was not until the 17th minute that madrid fashioned a serious chance on goal. it fell to raúl who got in behind the dortmund defence, but jens lehmann was quickly off his line to smother the shot.
koller strikes madrid were beginning to find their rhythm and were camped in the dortmund half when, totally against the run of play, the german side struck on 30 minutes. tomáš rosický supplied the pass to koller on the edge of area and the tall czech striker made himself enough room to snap an angled shot past the despairing dive of iker casillas.
raúl hits back the goal stunned madrid into action. zidane shot over, luis figo hit the crossbar and ronaldo brought a terrific diving save from lehmann with a venomous shot from the edge of the d, before raúl finally made the pressure tell two minutes before the break. collecting the ball on his chest six metres out, he fell to the ground attempting to turn his marker but as christoph metzelder and christian wörns hesitated, the striker poked out a foot and, from a prone position, slid the ball between the legs of lehmann to draw madrid level.
lehmann impresses lehmann, impressive throughout, got his revenge a minute after the restart, palming away raúl's curling shot as madrid pressed from the off. casillas had to be equally alert in the madrid goal moments later to save from ewerthon after the brazilian's terrific pace had taken him past roberto carlos and through on goal.
zidane the creator with the game flowing from end to end, zidane made the most of the extra space on 56 minutes. set free down the right, he strode forward before measuring a cross low to the far post where ronaldo side-footed the ball under lehmann to earn madrid three crucial points.
