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Champions League, round of 16, second leg

Real Madrid 3 - Schalke 1

Real Madrid completed the formalities, a 3-1 win on Tuesday night against Schalke ’04 confirming their a place in the quarter finals. The tie was already over though after the 1-6 scoreline from the first leg, and with a crucial game coming up at the weekend against Barcelona, Ancelotti made eight changes to his line-up. His plans were changed somewhat when Jesé was carried off in only the second minute with a serious knee injury after Kolasinac barged him over, but that just brought on Gareth Bale, who combined with Morata to set up Ronaldo for the opener with twenty minute on the clock. Morata missed an easy chance soon afterwards from another Bale assist, but the German side made it all square on the half hour mark when Hoogland’s speculative shot hit Sergio Ramos and span back past Casillas in to the net. Fährmann made some impressive saves from Isco, Morata and particularly a Ronaldo header either side of half time, and Huntelaar came close to putting the visitors ahead when he turned a shot just wide of the post just before the break. But with a quarter of an hour to go Madrid struck twice in a minute to wrap up the game, Ronaldo running through from the halfway line to fire a shot inside the keeper’s near post (his 13th of the competition this season), and Morata finishing off after Ronaldo’s shot came back off the crossbar to Bale, who played the ball back across goal. Casillas still had to save from Draxler, but Bale and Isco fired good chances wide, and Ronaldo came close to his hat-trick when his shot hit the foot of the post. A record 9-2 aggregate scoreline, and nobody will want to be drawn against Ancelotti’s side when the names come out of the hat next Friday. (18.03.14)