I am Spartacus.
Kevin De Bruyne’s former club gave it the best shot but they came up against CR7, all iron willed, predatory, on a do or die. He was Spartacus, Stalin, and a Kamikaze pilot all rolled into one. Wolfsburg were also done in by some shoddy defending for Ronaldo’s first and second goal, which arrived a little more than a minute apart. Julian Draxler, such a bright spark in the first leg had to leave with an injury which actually saw the German side come to life in the last 15 minutes of the first half with two very good chances, first from Luis Gustavo’s long range blast saved by Keylor Navas and then Henrique’s ballistic run down the left and his subsequent shot dragging wide.
Real turned it up again in the second half and Sergio Ramos’s header from a corner which bounced off the post seemed to have crept over the line before curling back to goalie Diego Benaglia but the line official correctly adjudged the ball did not break the plane. That set the stage for the Ronaldo heroics as his free kick saw the Wolfsburg wall part like Moses and the Red Sea at the right instant to let the ball in through a sliver. There was nothing Benaglia could do. Some higher authority was writing this match and Ronaldo was his instrument. Say what you will, Ronaldo is a thoroughly unlikable preening prima donna but he does score goals, plenty of them.
Ronaldo’s free kick: