Two favorites advanced Tuesday to the UEFA Champions League semifinals, but not without plenty of drama-filled action.
Borussia Dortmund scored twice in stoppage time to beat Malaga 3-2 on aggregate and reach the semifinals for the first time in 15 years. Dortmund is the first team in Champions League play to score twice in stoppage time while needing two to win since Manchester United overcame Bayern Munich in the epic 1999 final.
Malaga took the lead twice through Joaquín and Eliseu, but that was not enough to send Manuel Pellegrini’s side to the semifinals. Pellegrini was looking to take his second Champions League debutant to the semis, along with Villarreal in 2005-06.
Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Dortmund with his sixth Champions League goal in 10 games this season. In all competitions, the Polish striker has scored 15 goals in his past 16 matches.
Marco Reus and Felipe Santana scored in stoppage time to send the Germans through. In the first three minutes of added time, Dortmund had 22 touches, seven of them in the box, and scored both goals within 10 yards. In the entire game, Dortmund managed twice as many shots (16-8) and completed 200 more passes (439-239) than Malaga.
In Istanbul, Real Madrid advanced 5-3 on aggregate despite losing 3-2 to Galatasaray. Los Blancos reached the semifinals for the third consecutive season under Jose Mourinho, who makes his seventh European Cup semifinal appearance, tying Sir Alex Ferguson's record. Before Mourinho's arrival, Real Madrid had not reached the semifinals the previous eight seasons. Now the club will play in the European Cup semifinals for the record 24th time.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice for Real Madrid to take his tally to 11 Champions League goals this campaign, bettering his previous career high from last season. The Portuguese star scored for the fifth consecutive match in European play and passed Andriy Shevchenko for fifth place on the all-time Champions League scoring list with 49 goals.
Three goals were not enough for Galatasaray, as the Turkish club answered Ronaldo’s opener with goals by Emmanuel Eboue, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba, who scored his 40th career Champions League goal (and first since last year's final in Munich).
Madrid and Dortmund both await Wednesday's winners and the semifinal draw on Friday.