Real Madrid avenged two group phase defeats by Bayern Munich when they beat the Germans 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium yesterday.
Goals from Nicolas Anelka after four minutes and a Jens Jeremies own goal after 33 minutes, gave Real victory and the upper hand in the battle to make the Champions League final an all-Spanish affair - against Valencia or Barcelona - in Paris on May 24th. Real are within sight of their second European Cup final in three seasons - but the tie is still finely balanced with the second leg to come in Munich next Tuesday.
Real's Brazilian midfielder Savio said afterwards: "This tie is still very open. Now we've got the most difficult part to do."
Anelka scored when he rifled an angled shot into the roof of the net, after Raul had found the French international with a cross deep out of the midfield.
Real then had a goal disallowed for offside after Raul put the ball in from close range after a superb build-up, but they only had to wait 13 minutes to go 2-0 up and disarray in the Bayern defence enabled Real to double their lead.
Spanish international defender Salgado waltzed past several Bayern players before Jeremies turned the ball into his own net under pressure from Salgado.
The victory gave Real a measure of revenge after Bayern defeated them 4-2 and 4-1 in the second group phase of the competition in March.
Real started out determined to obliterate the memories of those beatings - throwing everything into attack from the outset.
After Anelka's goal - with the Frenchman finally showing the skill that prompted Real to pay Arsenal more than £35 million for his services - the assault on Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn did not die down for the first 45 minutes.
Bayern desperately missed the influential presence of their playmaker Stefan Effenberg and the midfield was controlled by Real's Fernando Redondo and Steve McManaman.
The visitors had a better second half as they tried to get a vital away goal. Elber went close, but squandered all his opportunities, heading over the bar twice.
One negative note for the home side was the bookings of central defender Aitor Karanka and his right-sided accomplice, Salgado. The pair will miss the return leg.
Bayern's defeat will leave them much to ponder in the intervening six days, during which time they face Werder Bremen in the German Cup final on Saturday.
They beat Real Madrid 4-1 in front of their home fans in March and a similar score would see them through to the final.
However Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer had warned his side that Real were a different team to that which they faced a few months ago and, as Bayern found out last night, the Spaniards are not likely to be so easily overcome.
Real Madrid: Casillas, Salgado, Carlos, Redondo, McManaman, Campo, Helguera, Karanka, Raul, Morientes (Savio, 61 min), Anelka (Balic 80).
Bayern Munich: Kahn, Babbel, Lizarazu, Scholl, Elber (Jancker 78), Sergio, Jeremies, Fink, Tarnat (Weisinger 47), Salihamidzic (Santa Cruz 78), Linke.
Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)