The Real Madrid vs Manchester United Champions League last 16 first leg tie lived up to its billing, with action and some interesting tactics keeping the eyes of the world locked onto the 90 minutes at the Bernabeu.
A goal from Cristiano Ronaldo prevented Real Madrid from going down at home after Danny Welbeck had opened the scoring for the away side, with the tie now perfectly poised going into the second leg at Old Trafford.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was understandably content with the result, and believes his side have the advantage.
"There was a lot of incident in the match, chances at both ends," Ferguson told Sky Sports. "David de Gea has made three or four good saves, but we missed three or four good chances ourselves and the keeper made a great save in the last minute for them, and we had Robin van Persie hit the bar.
"We've made great chances. The disappointing thing is we sat off them too much in the first half. They had a lot of play around our box, and that is not healthy. We had a lot of good chances and played some good attacking football at times.
"They had more possession, but you expect that at a team like this, playing at home. We dug in and got the result to take back to Old Trafford and it gives us a great chance."
Real boss Jose Mourinho is convinced the tie will go down to the wire, with the extra added spice of Ronaldo returning to his old hunting ground making the game unmissable on March 5.
"I am not surprised by the result or the match," Mourinho said. "It was what I expected. It is open, very open, for the second leg. I think it will go down to the final minute.
"For them it was very tactical, but not for us. They changed the way they play, I think, to have 11 men behind the ball and they did not put a foot in our half in the second half. They were just waiting for a set piece or a counter-attack. They defended well.
"The result leaves it open and if you ask me for a percentage, I will say, like I said before, it is 50-50. They don't have an advantage from their away goal, we can score more than one goal in the second leg."
