Borussia Dortmund 2 Real Madrid 2: Late Schurrle strike salvages draw

A late goal from Andre Schurrle saw Borussia Dortmund clinch a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid in Tuesday’s Champions League encounter and extend their unbeaten run against the LaLiga side at the Signal Iduna Park to six games.

Madrid appeared to be on their way to their first away win against Dortmund following Raphael Varane’s second-half goal, but Schurrle levelled three minutes from time with a superb finish.

Dortmund were high on confidence after winning four games on the trot, including a 6-0 thrashing of Legia Warsaw in their Group F opener, whereas Madrid came off two consecutive domestic draws.

Although the Santiago Bernabeu side were on a 22-game unbeaten run in the Champions League group stages heading into the game, their last defeat did come against Dortmund in October 2012. 

But Thomas Tuchel’s men were dealt an early blow when Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring after some fine work from Gareth Bale, with the Portugal international seeing another goal disallowed for offside later on.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had by then already restored parity, though, when he took advantage of some poor goalkeeping from Keylor Navas for his seventh goal of the season in all competitions.

Both sides created a number of chances after the interval and Varane appeared to have made the difference when he converted a rebound halfway through the second period, only for Schurrle to pop up in the 87th minute and salvage a draw.

The away side came close to grabbing an early lead when Ronaldo stepped up to take a free-kick on the edge of the area after just two minutes, only for goalkeeper Roman Burki to deny him with a fine save.

Dortmund got a set-piece of their own in a dangerous position just minutes later and only a world-class stop from Navas kept out Gonzalo Castro’s fine effort.

Karim Benzema then wasted a gilt-edged chance when he slipped when clean through on goal, but Dortmund had no such luck when Ronaldo handed Madrid the lead with a clinical finish after 17 minutes. James Rodriguez reached Bale inside the area, with the Welshman setting up Ronaldo with a clever back-heel and the prolific forward fired a low shot past Burki.

Tuchel’s men restored parity two minutes before half-time as Aubameyang tapped home following some poor goalkeeping from Navas. Navas inexplicably punched a free-kick from Raphael Guerreiro against the onrushing Raphael Varane and back towards goal, leaving Aubameyang with an easy finish.

Ronaldo thought he had restored Madrid’s lead again right away when he found the net a second time with a strong header, only for referee Mark Clattenburg to correctly blow his whistle for offside.

The visitors slowly grew into the game after the break and Benzema should perhaps have made it 2-1 after a good cross from Bale from the right, only for Matthias Ginter to block his shot with a stunning last-ditch tackle.

But Madrid got their second goal after all thanks to Varane. Benzema hit the crossbar after a cross from Ronaldo, but the rebound fell to Varane and the Frenchman had little trouble finding the net from close range.

Dortmund nearly came up with an instant reply via Guerreiro, but Navas made up for his previous mistake with a fine save to keep out the Portugal international’s long-range strike.

The Madrid goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent the late equaliser, though, as Schurrle blasted a shot in the top corner from the left-hand side of the area after some good work from substitute Christian Pulisic.