Champions League: Lewandowski hits 4 for Dortmund against Madrid
Robert Lewandowski scored four goals to inspire Borussia Dortmund to a stunning 4-1 demolition of Real Madrid in their Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
Dortmund's dazzling performance came a day after Bayern Munich crushed Barcelona 4-0 in the other semi-final first leg, raising the prospect of an all-German clash in next month's final at Wembley.
The Dortmund side were up and running from the first minute of the game. Marco Reus made an excruciating run through the Real’s back four, only to be denied by a great save from Diego Lopez. But just minutes later, Lewandowski made up for that miss.
In the 42nd minute, a pair of events appeared to turn the game and the tie on its head. Reus went down in the penalty area in the 42nd minute, but referee Bjorn Kulpers judged that he was not fouled by Raphäel Varane. Less than a minute later, a defensive error gifted an equalizer to Madrid.
Neven Subotic inexplicably tried to play a throw-in backwards in his own half, putting Mats Hummels in a poor spot. He could have cleared away, but took a poor touch that allowed Gonzalo Higuain to dribble into the penalty area. He was closed down, but squared for Cristiano Ronaldo who finished into an empty net.
Dortmund restored their lead five minutes after the restart. It was a controversial goal as Madrid defenders wanted a flag for offide as Lewandowski scored his second.
Madrid was still reeling from an early blow, as the Bundesliga top scorer was in no mood to stop scoring. Just 5 minutes later he picked up a deflected ball inside the box, turned, and hit a marvelous shot straight into the roof of the net, and sealed his hat-trick.
Echoes of Bayern's pummelling of Barcelona on Tuesday were already in mind and it got worse for Mourinho's side as Xabi Alonso bundled Reus over in the penalty area, with Lewandowski making no mistake from the spot.
Ronaldo went close to pulling another goal back but Roman Weidenfeller was quick off his line to thwart the Portuguese forward on a deflating night for the Spanish league champions.
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"I think they were the best team by far," Mourinho told reporters. "On every individual battle on the pitch they were stronger than us, they were more aggressive physically, they were more aggressive mentally so I think they deserved it."
Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp said: "This performance will definitely go down in history."
"There are always the same films in the Borusseum [the club's museum]. You will see Lewa's four goals there soon."
Lewandowski has scored 33 goals in 42 appearances for Dortmund this season, and has 71 goals in 130 games in total for the club. The striker has 53 caps for Poland, scoring 17 goals.
About 1st4FootballTickets.com: Thousands of football tickets are on sale on Europe's biggest football ticketing website: We have Champions League tickets available such as Bayern Munich tickets, Real Madrid tickets and tickets for FC Barcelona. Last but not least we also have UEFA Champions League Final tickets available.
Dortmund's dazzling performance came a day after Bayern Munich crushed Barcelona 4-0 in the other semi-final first leg, raising the prospect of an all-German clash in next month's final at Wembley.
The Dortmund side were up and running from the first minute of the game. Marco Reus made an excruciating run through the Real’s back four, only to be denied by a great save from Diego Lopez. But just minutes later, Lewandowski made up for that miss.
In the 42nd minute, a pair of events appeared to turn the game and the tie on its head. Reus went down in the penalty area in the 42nd minute, but referee Bjorn Kulpers judged that he was not fouled by Raphäel Varane. Less than a minute later, a defensive error gifted an equalizer to Madrid.
Neven Subotic inexplicably tried to play a throw-in backwards in his own half, putting Mats Hummels in a poor spot. He could have cleared away, but took a poor touch that allowed Gonzalo Higuain to dribble into the penalty area. He was closed down, but squared for Cristiano Ronaldo who finished into an empty net.
Dortmund restored their lead five minutes after the restart. It was a controversial goal as Madrid defenders wanted a flag for offide as Lewandowski scored his second.
Madrid was still reeling from an early blow, as the Bundesliga top scorer was in no mood to stop scoring. Just 5 minutes later he picked up a deflected ball inside the box, turned, and hit a marvelous shot straight into the roof of the net, and sealed his hat-trick.
Echoes of Bayern's pummelling of Barcelona on Tuesday were already in mind and it got worse for Mourinho's side as Xabi Alonso bundled Reus over in the penalty area, with Lewandowski making no mistake from the spot.
Ronaldo went close to pulling another goal back but Roman Weidenfeller was quick off his line to thwart the Portuguese forward on a deflating night for the Spanish league champions.
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"I think they were the best team by far," Mourinho told reporters. "On every individual battle on the pitch they were stronger than us, they were more aggressive physically, they were more aggressive mentally so I think they deserved it."
Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp said: "This performance will definitely go down in history."
"There are always the same films in the Borusseum [the club's museum]. You will see Lewa's four goals there soon."
Lewandowski has scored 33 goals in 42 appearances for Dortmund this season, and has 71 goals in 130 games in total for the club. The striker has 53 caps for Poland, scoring 17 goals.
About 1st4FootballTickets.com: Thousands of football tickets are on sale on Europe's biggest football ticketing website: We have Champions League tickets available such as Bayern Munich tickets, Real Madrid tickets and tickets for FC Barcelona. Last but not least we also have UEFA Champions League Final tickets available.
