Mou OK With Moscow Sucker Punch

22 February 2012

Real Madrid were coasting in Moscow until they shipped a late equaliser to CSKA, who proved yet again that a Russian side is never truly dead and buried.

There was the smack of inevitability about Cristiano Ronaldo’s opening goal for Los Blancos. Sometimes it seems that teams believe CR7 has to score before they know they are in fact playing Spain’s most successful team of all time.

It may not have been an epic display from Real, but Ronaldo’s away goal put them in pole position to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League again.

But CSKA were a dogged force in the second-half, and debutant Pontus Wernbloom snatched a draw the hosts deserved with a late goal which sucked the life from Jose Mourinho’s features.

The Special One was not impressed in the immediate aftermath of his side’s surrendered goal. But he pulled it together later to realise no crisis was afoot, and backed his side to finish the job at the Bernabeu in the second leg.

"Their goal was frustrating, but we earned a good result I'd be happy to have in every knock-out tie in which we play the return leg at home,” Mourinho said after the match.

"Their strike has made them very happy and we were frustrated by it because we played for more and had chances to score more. Our opponent made things very difficult for us, but they did little to score or draw the match. They played a serious and tough game. They worked very hard.

"Every game here has been the same for me. I won 1-0 with Chelsea and Inter Milan, but it was very hard in both encounters. It's always complicated over here. It seemed we would win 1-0 today, but they eventually drew a difficult fixture.”