Borussia Dortmund beats Real Madrid 2-1 in Champions League

 Real Madrid paid the price for a slipshod performance as they crashed to a 2-1 away loss to Borussia Dortmund in Champions League Group D - the Spanish champions' first defeat of the season in the tournament.


Cristiano Ronaldo brought Real level on 38 minutes two minutes after Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for the home side on 36 minutes.

Marcel Schmelzer benefited from a mistake by Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who was otherwise excellent, to ram the winner into the net on 64 minutes.

Dortmund lead Group D with seven points after three games. Real are one point behind on six.

On a miserable evening in Dortmund in which several players struggled to keep their footing in the first period, it was the home side who made the early running.

Casillas was forced to dive low to his right to repel a thumping effort from Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl on 12 minutes.

Real's response saw Angel Di Maria whack his own effort a couple of yards over on 21 minutes with obvious chances in the match at a premium.

Kehl then walloped the ball at the visiting goal from Mario Goetze's rolled pass four minutes later, but Casillas was alert to throw himself at the shot to tip it over his bar.

Dortmund moved ahead courtesy of a horrid mistake by Pepe who passed the ball straight to Poland forward Lewandowski under no pressure on 36 minutes.

Lewandowski bounded forward before slipping the ball low into the corner of the net with Casillas given no chance to the delight of the exuberant home supporters.

Real responded only two minutes later as Luka Modric - on for the injured Sami Khedira on 19 minutes - picked out the run of Ronaldo who hoisted the ball over Roman Weidenfeller as the home goalkeeper ran hopelessly off his line with Lukasz Piszczek caught out in the right-back position.

Dortmund grabbed the initiative at the outset of the second period with Casillas diving to palm away a shot by Goetze after a fine pass from Piszczek.

Di Maria saw an effort slide narrowly wide on 53 minutes before Dortmund made Real pay for their profligacy with what proved to be the winning goal.

Schmelzer drove the ball into the ground and into the corner of the net after Casillas had made a mess of an attempted punched clearance.

Lewandowski let the ball go through his legs, and the Bundesliga team had the lead as the ball nestled in the net. Despite some animation, the visiting side never looked likely to retrieve the situation with Dortmund always looking as dangerous in their forward thrusts.