MADRID, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid took a big step towards the semi-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday night after defeating Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in the Santiago Bernabeu.
Goals from Gareth Bale, Isco and Cristiano Ronald helped Real Madrid forget the pain of their semi-final defeat to the German side last season.
Borussia came to Madrid where six first team regulars missing either through injury, suspension or because in the case of Mario Gotze, and it was clear from the off they were not the same force.
Gareth Bale opened the scoring in just the third minute after accepting a pass from Dani Carvajal as the Borussia defense looked as if they were still in the dressing room. Bale was able to find space in the penalty area to poke the ball into the Borussia net.
On a cold and rainy night in Madrid, the home side adapted faster to the conditions and were clearly motivated, pinning their rivals back in their own half with their swift attacking football.
Meanwhile despite the efforts of their coach Jurgen Klopp on the touchline, this was not the Borussia which had hit Madrid with waves of players on the counter-attack a year ago. Following a poor ball out from the visitors' defense, Isco, who was in for Angel Di Maria, was able to find space to curl home neat shot from outside of the penalty area just before the half hour.
The game dropped in intensity after Real Madrid's second goal, but the start of the second half saw both sides return to hostilities and Ronaldo added a third after Luka Modric had won the ball in the middle of the park to set him through on goal.
Ronaldo's night would end prematurely as he went off injured with problems in his troublesome left knee with 10 minutes remaining, just a minute after Borussia should have had a penalty after Xabi Alonso brought down Milos Jolic only for the referee to wave play on.
Bale fired over for Madrid in the closing minutes, but by then his side were content with a score which means it would need a disaster in Germany next week to see them fail to make the last four.