Özil comes to the rescue in the 89th minute.
All said and done, a draw was a fair result in el Bernabéu. Borussia set out to win and almost succeeded, but Madrid kept at it and managed to equalise in the 89th minute.
Özil put his team level with a brilliantly executed free kick that curled just inside the near post.
Prior to the match, Borussia had made little noise and showed respect for its opponent, but what happened on the pitch was another thing altogether; the German side went for it from the outset and completely dominated the opening minutes.
In the 28th minute, Reus took advantage of a hole in the Madrid defence and volleyed a shot past Casillas, who got his hand to the ball but couldn’t keep it out.
Madrid reacted almost immediately and, in the 34th minute, Özil crossed the ball from the left for Pepe to head home like a charging bull.
Madrid seemed to have come to life, but gave away chances and paid the price by conceding another following another defensive gaff just before half-time.
Weidenfeller played a long ball in, Varane didn’t get on the end of it and Ramos showed up late, Grosskreutz connected brilliantly with Mario Götze to put him one-on-one with Casillas, only for Arbeloa to fail to intercept the ball but put it into his own net instead.
After the break, the pattern was clear: Madrid monopolized the attack and the Germans stayed solid at the back.
Callejón had a goal disallowed in the 47th minute for off-side, and an inspired Weidenfeller stopped several chances, with some help from Grosskreuts, who cleared the ball off the line following another effort from Callejón.
The wall finally came down one minute from the end thanks to an Özil free-kick taken from the right, which curled in just inside the near post. It wasn’t an especially hard hit shot but a difficult one that fooled Weidenfeller, who was probably expecting Ronaldo to take a blast.
That meant things were just as they started: Borussia is still top and Madrid, second.
