The German domination continued as Robert Lewandowski scored an amazing four goals to guide Borussia Dortmund to a 4-1 thrashing of Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.
A partisan crowd at the Westfalenstadion were treated to a Dortmund performance for the ages as Lewandowski carved Real Madrid open, leaving Jose Mourinho and co, just like Barcelona last night, wondering what had gone wrong.
Cristiano Ronaldo had equalized late in the first half, after Lewandowski's early opener, but an outstanding second half performance from the German side put the first leg to bed, leaving Real Madrid with a mountain steeper than the Mt. Everest to climb in the second leg at the Bernabeu next week.
Jose Mourinho had named his side 24 hours before the game, but there was one change to the XI, with Luka Modric starting in place of Angel Di Maria, who had just become a father.
Dortmund, who had Mario Gotze in their lineup despite his impending move Bayern Munich, sprung off the traps a lot quicker than Real Madrid, creating a couple of early chances before scoring the opener.
Dortmund thought they had scored on six minutes, when a crunching tackle from Sven Bender set Marco Reus through. The German forward made a searing run through the heart of Real's defence, before firing a low strike, which was well saved by Diego Lopez. Lewandowski just failed to fire the rebound first time as Real survived.
Two minutes later, though, Dortmund were 1-0 ahead. Gotze manufactured a brilliant cross from the left, with Lewandowski getting in ahead of Pepe to fire home from close-range.
Real were struggling to cope with Dortmund's high pressing game, unable to string more than a few passes together. Ronaldo, who had been kept quiet by Bender, came close, but his freekick from 35 yards was well saved by Roman Weidenfeller.
Slowly but surely, Real started to get a foothold in the game, without really creating any chances. However, just seconds after Dortmund had a penalty appeal turned down, Real found the equalizer two minutes from halftime.
An underhit backpass from Mats Hummels to Weidenfeller allowed Gonzalo Higuain, a passenger for the entire 90 minutes otherwise, to pick out Ronaldo, who made no mistake in slotting it into the back of the net for his 12th goal in this season's Champions League.
If everyone expected a more well-equipped Real Madrid side to come out in the second 45, they were in for a surprise. Dortmund again started the much better side as Real just failed to show up in the second half.
The home side deservedly went 2-1 ahead through that man Lewandowski again. Reus saw his shot from just outside the box, fall to the feet of Lewandowski, who controlled it well before poking home past Diego Lopez in the 50th minute. Real Madrid were furious at the assistant referee, wanting an offside call, but replays clearly showed the Dortmund striker was level.
Five minutes later it was 3-1 with Lewandowski again showing his finishing prowess inside the box. Left-back Marcel Schmelzer's shot took a deflection off a Real defender and fell to Lewandowski, who spun brilliantly past Pepe to complete his hat-trick with aplomb.
Ilkay Gundogan, who, along with Bender, had an outstanding game in midfield, forced a brilliant save from Diego Lopez, after a stunning strike soon after, as Dortmund looked to add the final nail in the Real Madrid coffin.
It did not take too long as Dortmund were awarded a penalty in the 67th minute. Xabi Alonso bundled into Marco Reus inside the box, with referee Bjorn Kuipers having no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.
Lewandowski, who had just become the first player in the Champions League to score a hat-trick against Real Madrid, stepped up to take the penalty and scored an amazing fourth with an authoritative finish past Diego Lopez.
The Polish striker nearly had a ridiculous fifth, but the fingertips of Diego Lopez kept out his strike from 25 yards. Real huffed and puffed in the final 20 minutes or so, but never really looked like creating a chance as Dortmund sealed a memorable win.
