Summary Real Madrid and Manchester United played a 1-1 draw in the first leg of last-16 of Champions League.
Danny Welbeck and Cristiano Ronaldo headed a first-half goal apiece as Real Madrid and Manchester United played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the last-16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.
Former United star Ronaldo levelled on 30 minutes with his seventh Champions League goal of the season, making him the top-scorer in the competition, after Welbeck had headed home a corner 10 minutes earlier.
Alex Ferguson had promised goals before the match and they came early enough, but then his team put on a battling performance with David De Gea excellent in goal to take a draw into the second leg at Old Trafford on March 5.
Before kick-off all the talk was about the exclusion of a centre-half on either side.
It was expected that Pepe, who has only managed 25 minutes since an ankle operation at the turn of the year, would not be risked in such a big game for Real.
However, the omission for the visitors of Nemanja Vidic was a surprise after the Serb failed to even make the bench after captaining his side in a 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday.
Sami Khedira had the first effort for the home team in the second minute on finding space in the area, but he pulled his shot well wide.
Next it was Angel Di Maria who tried his luck from outside the area before De Gea tipped a goal bound shot from Fabio Coentrao onto the post.
United weathered the early storm and when Welbeck and Shinji Kagawa combined well to win a corner on 20 minutes it was Welbeck who eluded the marking of Ramos to head home the opening goal and his first in the competition this season.
Ronaldo hammered wide the rebound of his own blocked free-kick before grabbing the equaliser 10 minutes later when he leapt above Patrice Evra to head home a Di Maria cross from the left.
