Real Madrid face Champions League exit after 2-0 loss

Real Madrid lost 2-0 in Germany to the team that was considered the “easy” draw of this quarter-final stage. Both Wolfsburg goals came in the first half, the first from the penalty spot, but Real Madrid were unable to find an away goal despite dominating possession in the second half.

It initially looked like Real Madrid would have a smooth ride to the quarter-finals as they were the best team by far in the opening ten minutes. Ronaldo even had the ball in the net after one minute when he finished off a neat move from Benzema and Kroos, but it was (correctly) ruled out for offside. It looked, however, like it would simply be a matter of time before Real Madrid scored a legitimate goal, as Los Blancos pushed Wolsburg back into their own half for the majority of the opening 15 minutes.

Then, out of nowhere, the home side were ahead. Draxler got to the byline and pulled a ball back towards the penalty spot where Schurrle was waiting. As the German readied himself to shoot, he was caught by the incoming Casemiro and the tangle of legs earned Wolfsburg a controversial penalty. Ricardo Rodríguez stepped up and sent Keylor Navas the wrong way.

It was the first goal Navas has conceded in the Champions League. It had taken 558 minutes of Champions League football for him to concede his first goal, but it took just six more minutes for him to concede his second. This time Draxler played it out to Bruno Henrique, who was able to get a cross past Marcelo and Sergio Ramos reacted too slowly to the incoming Arnold, who side-footed the ball past Navas from five yards out.

Real Madrid had plenty of time to salvage something positive from this match, but they were unable to do so. Losing Benzema to an injury before half-.time did not help their cause, nor did their poor finishing. Over the whole match, Real Madrid had 16 shots to Wolfsburg’s ten, but 13 of Real Madrid’s shots were off target. Rarely did the home goalkeeper Benaglio look troubled and the clock ticked down far too quickly for Los Blancos.

They will have to try to turn this tie around at the Bernabéu next Tuesday, but that will be a tough ask. Real Madrid have been knocked out of the Champions League the last eight times they lost the first leg, as was the case when they lost in the semi-final first leg against Juventus last season.