Madrid stymie Schalke as Porto equalise late
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to goalscoring form and Marcelo was also on target as holders Real Madrid opened their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie with a 2-0 win at Schalke.
Ronaldo ended a rare drought of three games by heading Real ahead in the first half at the Veltins-Arena before Marcelo made victory safe with a fine second late on. Schalke proved much tougher opposition than last year, when they were thrashed 6-1 at the same stage by the same opponents, and rattled the bar at 1-0 down through Felix Platte.
Timon Wellenreuther, a 19-year-old goalkeeper pressed into action due to injuries, also impressed but ultimately Roberto Di Matteo's side could not deny Real a tenth successive win in the competition. Former Real striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar had the first serious effort on goal from distance but Iker Casillas saved well to his left.
It then seemed Schalke's good early work had been undone as Real grabbed the lead through Ronaldo after 26 minutes. Ronaldo, who had shot wastefully wide from distance moments earlier, timed his run superbly to meet Dani Carvajal's curling cross and head past Wellenreuther.
Real almost had a second soon after as Karim Benzema broke through but Wellenreuther just got enough on his shot. Things got worse for Schalke as Huntelaar was then forced off injured after a clash with Raphael Varane.
Ronaldo wanted a second from a 30-yard free-kick before the break but Wellenreuther tipped away his curling effort. Schalke tried to force their way back into the game in the second half but Kevin-Prince Boateng spurned a good opportunity when he shot over.
Real threatened again when Gareth Bale neatly combined with Isco outside the area but the Spaniard shot over. Schalke served the champions a warning after 74 minutes as substitute Platte struck the crossbar with a fierce effort. Atsuto Uchida was quick to the rebound but could not trouble Casillas.
That prompted Real to step up the tempo and they took a firm grip on the tie 11 minutes from time as Ronaldo cut in from the left and beat two defenders to find Marcelo on the edge of the area.
The Brazilian gave the Germans no chance as he took a touch and clipped a superb shot over Wellenreuther. The goal deflated Schalke, who then switched to damage-limitation mode for the remainder of the match. They had not been outplayed like last season but were still left facing a huge hurdle at the Bernabeu in the second leg.
Porto pick up late away goal
Danilo was on target with a second-half penalty as Porto struck back for a 1-1 draw against Basel in their last-16 first-leg Champions League clash at St Jakob-Park.
The visitors had two goals ruled out over the course of the match as they pushed for a leveller after Derlis Gonzalez had put the hosts in front early on, but Porto fought back and their pressure paid off as Danilo made sure the Portuguese giants head into the second leg level.
The hosts took the lead with the first real chance of note after 11 minutes as Paraguay international Gonzalez slotted home his third goal in seven Champions League matches for the Swiss champions. The 20-year-old collected Fabian Frei's pass just inside the Porto half from outside the 18-yard box and managed to keep his balance as he beat two defenders and fired the ball low, sliding underneath goalkeeper Fabiano to put Basle in front.
Porto's Casemiro came close to netting an equaliser seven minutes later but the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder's header from the edge of the six-yard box was safely collected by home stopper Tomas Vaclik.
The visitors had a half-chance to level on the hour mark as they started to apply the pressure but Jackson Martinez was thwarted by the home defence as he was floored in the box while referee Mark Clattenburg waved play-on, before Danilo sent the ball flying over the crossbar and into the stands.
The away side continued to push and Cristian Tello had the ball in the back of the net ten minutes before the break although the offside flag had already gone up. It looked as if Julen Lopetegui's men had got onto the scoresheet two minutes into the second half as Tello's corner found Maicon at the far post, whose header was punched out by Vaclik before the ball fell to the feet of Brazil midfielder Casemiro to volley home.
But seconds later the goal was disallowed after a brief exchange of words between Clattenburg and his assistant, and the English referee ruled the goal out after ruling the Porto players had impeded the goalkeeper.
Czech stopper Vaclik was forced to parry Tello's close-range shot out for a corner as the game approached the hour mark, while - five minutes later - Martinez came close to netting a leveller with a great chance but he fired too high with his close-range effort and instead found the roof of the net.
With just over ten minutes remaining, Porto levelled through Danilo's penalty after Walter Samuel went to ground in his own box and was unable to avoid handling the ball on the deck. Danilo made it look easy as he took the resulting spot-kick with a cool short run to fire into the bottom-left of the goal and beat the diving Vaclik as the visitors' pressure finally paid off.