There was an air of inevitability that Cristiano Ronaldo would score against the side where he made his name, and of course he duly obliged; but Manchester United came out with a slight advantage going into the second leg of this dream Champions League tie, holding Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo cancelled out a header from Danny Welbeck with a brilliant header of his own, leaving the mouth-watering tie perfectly poised going into the second leg at Old Trafford.
In the day's other game, Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund played out a 2-2 draw. Darijo Srna and Douglas Costa scored for the Ukrainian side at home, with Robert Lewandowski and Mats Hummels equalizing once each for the German champions.
The game at the Bernabeu began as expected, with Real Madrid in complete control as Manchester United looked to spring on the counter-attack.
Sir Alex Ferguson picked Jonny Evans to partner Rio Ferdinand in central defense, with Nemanja Vidic, surprisingly, not even finding a place on the bench. Phil Jones was given the defensive midfield job, with the utility man tracking Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil whenever possible - easier said than done for anyone, but quite capably done by the youngster.
Sami Khedira was the first to be given an opportunity, after a nice run from Ronaldo allowed the rest of the Real attacking pack to find space, with the German midfielder's tame shot not troubling David De Gea, who was brilliant in goal for the away side.
Angel Di Maria, soon after, thumped a 20-yarder just wide after cutting onto his favored left foot. Ronaldo yet again created havoc, this time down the left, finding space for a cross, which eventually fell to Fabio Coentrao, whose right-footed strike looked destined to go into the bottom corner before De Gea's fingertips brilliantly tipped it onto the base post.
United were hardly threatening, with the likes of Wayne Rooney, playing on the right wing and asked to track back to help out Rafael with Ronaldo, Shinji Kagawa and Robin Van Persie not really getting a sniff at Real Madrid's goal.
However, against the run of play, United got that vital away goal. A corner from Rooney was swung in for Welbeck to head home in the 20th minute.
Real, despite being a little shocked by the goal, did not let their heads drop as they continued putting pressure on the United defense, which looked like cracking sooner rather than later.
Di Maria forced a comfortable save off De Gea, before Ronaldo lashed the rebound off his own freekick just wide. While all eyes were on Ronaldo, Ozil was now taking total control of the game, popping up on the right, center and left at will and causing trouble to almost every United defender.
A clever switch among the wingers did the trick for the home side, as Di Maria popped up on the left to swing in a perfect corner for Ronaldo to power home with his head at the far post in the 30th minute. The hang-time that the 28-year-old got before heading the ball would have made even Michael Jordan proud, with Ronaldo not celebrating the goal out of respect for his old side.
United nearly scored yet again off one of their few forays into the Real half, with Van Persie somehow finding a brilliant cross only for Welbeck, in space, to toe poke it just wide of the post.
Ozil and Ronaldo drove in a couple more shots as Real piled even more pressure on United in the final ten minutes, without finding the go-ahead goal.
The second half was not quite as exciting as the first, with the tempo of the play going down considerably as United sat back deeper and deeper and asked Real Madrid to find a way through their stubborn defense.
Di Maria was the brightest of the bunch for Real, with the Argentine winger taking a couple of long-range efforts, one of which was saved by De Gea and the other went just wide.
Then, a contentious decision was made by the referee when Rafael Varane seemed to bring down Patrice Evra with the United left-back looking to break clear; the referee waved play on, but he could have just as easily called a foul and given a red card to the Real Madrid defender.
Coentrao then forced another brilliant save from De Gea, with the United goalkeeper effectively using his feet to keep out the left-back shot at the back post off a right wing cross from Khedira.
United, soon after, had a couple of glorious chances to take the advantage yet again, with Rooney first playing in Van Persie from a quick counter, but the prolific Dutchman's right-footed shot was saved onto the post by Diego Lopez.
Van Persie then immediately had another chance after finding space behind the Real defense; however unlike the striker, he mishit his strike, with Xabi Alonso clearing the ball away as it trickled towards the net.
Ronaldo, who was very much in the thick of things in the first half, was very much in the periphery in the second and just could not make enough of an impact, with the former United man coming closest via a screamer of a 40-yard freekick, which only he was capable of pulling off.
Van Persie nearly stole it right at the end, but his strike was well saved by Diego Lopez in the final kick of the game.
The United rearguard stood firm under constant pressure and Ferguson will be absolutely delighted to come away from the Bernabeu with a 1-1 result.
The second leg at Old Trafford and Ronaldo's return now awaits as the mouth-watering clash promises a lot more drama in the Theatre of Dreams.
