Ronaldo makes more than a passing contribution

Cristiano Ronaldo was starting to look bored when it happened. The world’s best player had waited until the eighth minute for his first touch, he had waited another four minutes for his second, and another six minutes had gone by before his third.

Bayern Munich were on top, the ball theirs and theirs alone: in a little over quarter of an hour, they had racked up 100 more passes than their hosts.

Ronaldo watched from a distance, out on the left, waiting next to Rafinha. There was space there, he might have thought, if they can get me the ball. But that was a big “if”.

And then they did. A superbly blocked volley near Real Madrid's six-yard box, a swift pass out and as the ball reached Ronaldo for only the third time, the clock showed 17.57.

Into his path
Outside him, Fabio Coentrao began to sprint. Rather than beginning a run of his own, Ronaldo laid the ball into his path, beyond Rafinha, and Coentrao reached it ahead of Jerome Boateng. His cross went through the legs of Dante and out of the reach of David Alaba, where Karim Benzema slotted home. Explosion.

The doubt had been whether Ronaldo would even play. He had missed the previous four games through injuries to his thigh and knee, but the Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said he had trained normally.

The Italian insisted he would not take any risks and in the end Ronaldo was included in the starting XI. Gareth Bale was not. The roar when Ronaldo’s name was read out was longer and louder than those that greeted the rest of the Real side; they had missed him.

To start with, they continued to miss him. No more. This was a different contribution to those supporters have become accustomed to – calm, almost stationary, a pass proceeded by a pause, but it was decisive nonetheless.

As the roar rolled round the arena, he waited in the centre circle, hands coming together. There was a long conversation with Xabi Alonso and then he approached Benzema to embrace him.

Responsibility
If the goal was different, so was the celebration; it spoke of responsibility and perhaps reservation too.

But Ronaldo was awakened and so was Madrid - for 20 minutes they had appeared to be effectively anaesthetised by Bayern. Soon he had a wonderful chance of his own. He should have scored after 25 minutes. Benzema’s pass found him near the penalty spot and he opened up his body to side-foot home only for his shot to fly over the bar, the ball sitting up before he hit it. Now, this felt like a different game, more akin to what Ancelotti had anticipated.

Ronaldo appeared to be moving a little rigidly as he walked off at half-time. With 15 minutes to go, the board went up. Ronaldo off, Bale on. This time Ronaldo's role was different but no less important and as he departed, the Bernabeu gave him a standing ovation. –
Guardian Service