Bayern Munich To go Into the 2Nd leg Into an Advantage

Bayern Munch Has Beated Real Madrid by 2-1 and Now Has the greatest chance of going into the finals .

The visitors dominated the opening minutes of the match, with an intelligent pass through the Bayern Munich defence from Mesut Ozil setting up Karim Benzema for a shot at goal. The striker's effort was on target, forcing keeper Manuel Neuer to push it over the bar.

The hosts then began to find their form, allowing Franck Ribery to surge forward, only to be denied a penalty after referee Howard Webb decided he had gone down too easily in the box.

Moments later and Munich were back in Madrid's half, this time with a corner kick. A lucky deflection left the ball at Ribery's feet, and the winger powered the ball past keeper Iker Casillas from close range to open the scoring and put the hosts ahead.

Cristiano Ronaldo got his chance to equalise five minutes later after going down in front of the Munich goal and earning a free kick, but his shot soared over the bar.

A flurry of yellow cards followed, with Bayern's Holger Badstuber receiving a caution followed by Arjen Robben, the latter following two reckless challenges in as many minutes.

Real Madrid went into half-time a goal down, the first time the La Liga leaders had found themselves behind in this year's competition.

They re-emerged on strong form, with Benzema making two strong runs into the Munich penalty box in the opening minutes of the second half.

Ronaldo appeared to have thrown away a golden scoring opportunity moments later as he fired a shot straight into the path of Neuer. The keeper failed to keep hold of the ball, however, with the deflection falling to Benzema in the box.

He found Di Maria to his right, who slid the ball just wide of the post. Ronaldo kept the ball in play, tapping it back in front of goal where Ozil drove the ball past Neuer to bring the visitors level.

Three Real Madrid players then found themselves on the receiving end of yellow cards in quick succession as both sides looked to score.

Munich stiker Mario Gomez appeared increasingly frustrated as he failed to put his side ahead, with both a shot and a header going off target. He was then denied a penalty by referee Howard Webb despite going down after a strong double challenge in the box.

His moment finally came in the ninetieth minute. Philipp Lahm sent the ball across goal and the striker found himself on the end of it and powered it in to make the final score 2-1, putting Bayern Munich ahead in the battle for a place in the Champions League final.

The two sides will meet in Madrid next week for the second leg, whilst Chelsea and Barcelona face each other in the first leg of their semi-final tomorrow.