Sporting 1-2 Real Madrid: Benzema scores winner on Ronaldo's homecoming

Sporting 1-2 Real Madrid: Benzema scores winner on Ronaldo's homecoming

Los madridistas jugaron media hora con uno más por una presunta agresión de Joao Pereira

Se clasificaron para octavos, pero siguen dos puntos por debajo del Borussia Dortmund

Real Madrid left it late to beat Sporting Club for the second time this season as Cristiano Ronaldo made an emotional return to the club where his career began

Raphael Varane gave Madrid the lead in the first half, but 10 man Sporting, who had Joao Pereira sent off in the 64th minute, equalised with 10 minutes remaining via an Adrien Silva penalty. 

The script was set up for Ronaldo to get the winner — he’d scored the equaliser when Madrid came from behind to win 2-1 at the Bernabeu in September — but it wasn’t to be. 

There was to be another goal, though, with substitute Karim Benzema scoring with three minutes on the clock to ensure Zinedine Zidane’s men of their place in the last 16. 

Top spot is still up for grabs, though. Madrid trail Borussia Dortmund by two points with one game to go in the group, with the final game against the Bundesliga side in the Spanish capital at the beginning of December. 

Dortmund themselves won an incredible game 8-4 against Legia Warsaw on Tuesday. Marco Reus scored a hat-trick and Shini Kagawa scored two in a match which saw seven of the 12 goals scored before half time. 

Topics with the letter