madrid level late in munich published: wednesday 25 february 2004, 0.30cet
fc bayern münchen 1-1 real madrid cf a roberto carlos free-kick denies dominant bayern.
by mark bennett in the olympiastadion
real madrid cf salvaged a 1-1 draw from their trip to fc bayern münchen despite the home side running the show for most of the first leg of this knockout tie.
long wait bayern had to wait 75 minutes before roy makaay made their pressure tell by heading in a claudio pizarro cross. however, eight minutes later roberto carlos's free-kick squirmed under oliver kahn to give madrid a firm basis for the return in spain on 10 march - and their first-ever draw in munich in their 100th uefa champions league match.
lively start the sell-out crowd were treated to a lively start. roberto carlos almost gave the home team the perfect start on three minutes when he sliced his clearance and the ball ran only just wide of his own goal. only two minutes later ronaldo made a good run down the left but failed to pick out raúl gonzález in the middle.
makaay tests casillas on ten minutes, zé roberto found the always-dangerous makaay on the edge of the area and the dutch striker forced iker casillas into his first save of the evening. soon after bayern had another good chance, but pizarro's effort was over the bar.
bayern take control bayern continued to have the better chances and more of the game in the following minutes and the german champions succeeded in preventing madrid's highly-rated attackers moving forward. ten minutes from half-time casillas came to the rescue again when michael ballack, who had passed a late fitness test, and makaay combined to find owen hargreaves, whose vicious shot was well saved.
kahn blocks in the dying seconds of the first half ronaldo showed his menace, gathering the ball after a samuel kuffour slip and forcing kahn into his only real save of the opening 45 minutes.
hitzfeld's change bayern coach ottmar hitzfeld decided to make his first change during the break as hasan salihamidzic came on for bixente lizarazu. his opposite number, carlos queiroz, decided to stay put and his side were back on the defensive within seconds as casillas again had to save from ballack.
beckham close david beckham answered for madrid five minutes later, but his curling shot just went over the bar. then makaay could have given the hosts the lead after a cross from zé roberto, but put his header wide.
salihamidzic denied after 62 minutes bayern threatened the madrid goal once again. zé roberto darted through midfield, swapped a few passes with salihamidzic, leaving the substitute to have a shot. however, casillas was in the way yet again.
bayern ahead despite being denied time and time again bayern continued to push players forward and with a quarter of an hour left they were finally rewarded. pizarro managed to skip around raúl bravo on the right and sent a superb cross into the middle, where makaay was waiting to head home.
scores level but as bayern were beginning to look forward to a one-goal advantage in the spanish capital in two weeks' time, roberto carlos struck. the free-kick was not moving at great pace, but took enough of a deflection to mislead kahn, who saw the ball slip beneath his body and into the net.
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