MADRID, March 24 (Reuters) - Real Madrid
recovered from a goal down at halftime to claim a convincing 4-2 victory
against Monaco in a pulsating Champions League quarter-final, first leg
at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Monaco stunned Real when they snatched the lead late in the first
half after centre-back Sebastien Squillaci took advantage of hesitation
in the Real defence to poke home from close range at the second attempt.
But Real moved up a gear in the second half and equalised seven
minutes after the break when substitute centre-back Ivan Helguera
bundled in from three metres out after a David Beckham corner had
panicked the Monaco defence.
After squandering several good chances to add another goal, Real took
the lead when Zinedine Zidane drilled in at the near post after snapping
up the rebound form a Luis Figo shot on 70 minutes.
Seven minutes later Figo himself got on the scoresheet to make it 3-1
when he headed in after Monaco keeper Flavio Roma had saved his penalty
awarded when Ronaldo had been brought down in the area by Squillaci.
Ronaldo added a fourth when he raced on to a Zidane through ball and
shot low past Roma but Monaco gave themselves hope of a second leg
fightback when Real old boy Fernando Morientes scored with a terrific
header just over a minute later.