Champions League - Wernbloom denies Madrid
Pontus Wernbloom scored with the last kick of the ball as CSKA Moscow rescued a dramatic 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in their Champions League last-16 first leg clash at Luzhniki Stadium.
Jose Mourinho's side looked poised for victory when Cristiano Ronaldo benefited from some slipshod defending to sweep the loose ball home from inside the CKSA box on 28 minutes with his 122nd goal for Real in 124 appearances.
They looked in command until the dying seconds - the second of three minutes added on to the match - when Swedish midfielder Wernbloom popped up to thrash a volley beyond visiting goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who had little to do up until that point.
There was barely time for Real to restart the match before the referee's whistle sounded for full-time amid some scenes of bedlam.
It was the first goal Real had conceded away from home in the Champions League this season.
Despite being jolted by their failure to win the tie, Real Madrid remain strong favourites to progress to the quarter-finals with the return leg at the Bernabeu on March 14.
It was a memorable occasion for Wernbloom, who joined CSKA from Dutch club AZ last month. The Russian side did not look like an outfit who had come out of hibernation in playing their first match in two months due to the harsh Russian winter.
In temperatures below freezing, the 70,000 home fans made it a warm occasion for the Spanish league leaders on their artificial surface.
The Russian club have yet to lose a European match against Spanish opposition, winning three and drawing three.
CSKA - whose other notable move saw Alan Dzagoev hook a volley wide on seven minutes - owe a huge gratitude of thanks to their goalkeeper Sergey Chepchugov, who was only called on due to the knee injury that prevented regular choice Igor Akinfeev from being fit.
Chepchugov made a brilliant double stop to deny Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira from finding the opening goal on 16 minutes before making saves from Sergio Ramos and Ronaldo moments after the Portuguese forward had given the visiting side the lead.
Chepchugov pulled off another timely stop from Jose Maria Callejon in the second half. He then spread himself to keep out an effort from Ronaldo as Real somehow failed to add to their opening goal.
They paid the price for their profligacy late in the match when Wernbloom netted, but a draw in Moscow is far from a disaster for the Spanish side who are seeking a first Champions League success since they last lifted the big trophy in Glasgow a decade ago.
Comment 33 - 52 of 52
we all have some favorite clubs at various championships and for me ( I'm from rus) it's CSKA M but in Spain - Real M! Thanks to the draw we'll see more interesting second legs match soon
@ Comment 36, Great words obviously from a great man
@ Comment 42..."can't win?" Real haven't lost a game in CL this season-Home or Away. or where the Spanish refs exported for those games? Just in case u haven't been watching, pls refer to Comment 36, so as not to make such mistakes in future.
The English language has a lot of words of Latin origin and nobody's dieing of this. so why do u Baeca fans just look for something...anything to say? It's not ur season- is that too hard to accept?
HALA Madrid
Madrid definitely are going to pull through and probably .... cos
i said it ........................real madrid will not win the uefa champions league again
Average Game in bad conditions ... Real should progress easily to last 8. I hope that they meet Barca so we could have great Shows like last year ... Let the Giants Take it on and let's Enjoy it..
proud !? it is gr8 result 1 - 1 , im sure before the game mou n all real fans would have taken this result for me even if real lost 2 -1 i ll be happy i know that real r so gd that they will wipe the bernabeu ground with cska in return game
ronallllldo ronalllllldo ronallllldo
i hope bezema injury isnt bad , poyul will be happy he is his n8mare jajaja
hala madrid
You should be proud with your draw at Moscow. At the bernebeau, you will be by beaten 5-0 or 6-0. Hala Madrid!
Carlos, it's so funny that with a name like that which is obviously not English you tell someone from Canada that they don't know how to speak English. Really? Read all my posts below but maybe you are an idiot not to understand the proper usage of wit in our glorious language.Oh and I was not insulting Arab blood, cause I have plenty of that running in me, just remarking at what a silly club to have the word Hala in their slogan for a team that argues it is the 'Royal' Spanish representative in la liga. Go figure.
Where you from Carlos btw?
Barca, if you are indeed from Catalonia then you will also have plenty of Arabic blood yourself. You're definitely not a native English speaker, that's for sure. The moors were in the Iberian Peninsula for 800 years - that's a fact. If you're ashamed of that fact, then that's your problem. Instead of trolling these boards, you'd be better off taking some history classes or maybe some English classes so you can learn how to write properly.
I like what one fellow commentator said.....Real has a Phobia of the Blaugrana colours, such as CSKA, Basil, Levante, and of course Barca. The Spanish bull just needs a strip of red to get mad and commit errors and play miserably, but unfortunately it takes only the real master matador of Blaugranas to poke him with the killing blow.
Real should count themselves lucky that Catalan parliament has banned bull fights, but anyway they made an exception to when Madridistas visit.
HALA ANTI-MADRIDISTA. btw dod anyone know that the word Hala comes from arabic and means anything from hello to come-on. Those spaniards are nothing without good ARab blood inside them,.
we have now found yet another weakness to Madrid:
1. cold weather 2. their temper, they easily get frustrated and commit errors and fouls 3. BARCELONA
Jon of course it is Madrid's advantage because it's the break of the Russian Premier league - this is like Real playing UCL round 16 in July my friend, not everything is about the weather. A pity Hitler and Napolean did not hear of your one dimensional strategic genius. It's weather, state of the enemy, supply/logistics line, injuries and in Real's case - and hear is the greatest strategic lynchpin, they will go through this round but they would have been so stretched and battered to win it, that they will not be in optimal condition for the quarter final.
I feel sorry for Real, reality has hit hard. Another false dawn, another year in the wait. Sure they will go thru to the next round but already they are starting to hit the burn-out stage of the season....mounting injuries, Di Maria back on the injury table on the first day back, Benzema today, and oh my dear, the great Bottler, the Master of the Small games tap-ins Mr. Ronaldo El Micronifico will be up against the heavy March schedule of Real with all those much harder games in hand. tck tck!
Of course the La Liga MIGHT be loaned out to them for one year, otherwise what would the rest of the world think....that there is only FC Barcelona Champions in Spain. I mean we have 3 trophies already this year, and a copa final, plus possibly back-to-back UCL. Beat real hard in all classicos....8 and counting now, and we have the best academy in the world, the most awards, the best player of the world 3 years running, and a coach who won't be leaving us. I mean with just one La Liga, tck tck!!!!MOANrinho is bound to run away end of the season, can't risk his only trophy in spain going back to Barca under his watch when he failed so miserably to bring the so much desired glory that Real expected of him.
As I have said before many times, madrid are a small team assasin but when it comes to big teams they are not that good. Not that moscow is a really big team, but in champions league madrid is not that good. In champions league, the refs are not favoring madrid much like they are in la liga, so madrid can't win in the champions leauge because there are no la liga refs to help madrid by giving opposing teams undeserved red cards and give madrid undeserve penalties from their dives. I am not saying that madrid will not make it through this round, they are favorites to make it through this round, but next round they will not make it through, if they get some opponents like Milan, Bayern, Napoli, or Barcelona they will most likely be out. As I have said before madrid wins in la liga thanks to the refs giving the opponents red cards and madrid penalties, but in champions league where teams are harder and ther refs are not so helpful towards madrid as they are in la liga, then you see the true madrid, just a overhyped team by overhyped dirty players and coach. Visca Barca.
No spanish refs, 1-1! 100 points ahead in Laliga, still cant beat Barca, 4 years and counting! Hala getaffe, hala osasuna, booo madrid, cant beat barcelona....na na na na na na na na! Cant beat the kings of the world, europe and spain....na na na na na na na....... Madrid zero trophies 2012....Barca 3 .... Na na na na..... Madrid kicked out of copa 2012 by the boss.. Eh eh eh eh ..... Bernabeu is Barca picnic ground na na na na na.... And 10 more years no CL trophy for the penaltistas..... Na na na na na....
@39 ... your an idiot. lol!! lmao!!!
By some other Barca fans' reasoning it was to Real Madrid's advantage that they played in February in Moscow. Too bad Hitler and Napoleon never heard your logic, they would have conquered Russia with your genius - attack them in the winter when they are weakest!
The amount of money Madrid spend on players for the past years is ridiculous, and what they have to show for all that money? one Kings Cup, pretty sad, right? Barcelona always better than Madrid, Messi better than Ronaldo, No matter how hard Ronaldo try he will never reach messi level, Messi has everything over Ronaldo including the age gap....
Yes, according to some Barca fans' logic, Real Madrid must be struggling in the Champions League because they are not helped by the Royal Freemason Conspiracy Football Federation. They are absolutely right - Madrid only have 6 wins and 1 draw this season for a paltry 19 points out of 21 possible. There is a conspiracy and we must speak up!
hahaha barca fan were expecting madrid to lose tonight oh poor u so they are celebrating a draw this years is gone to be so misrable for u losers ha ha ha
great game
hala madrid
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