Karim Benzema spared Real Madrid's blushes as the 10-time Champions League winners narrowly beat Bulgarian side Ludogorets in Razgrad on Tuesday night.
Real looked uncomfortable from the start, and went 1-0 down just six minutes into the game. Fabio Espinho sent a corner into the Real Madrid box, which was dealt with by nobody. The ball fell kindly to Marcelinho, who beat Arbeloa to the ball at the far post to head home.
The away side looked to abolish the one-goal deficit as quickly as possible. Gareth Bale was set up by Cristiano Ronaldo, but his shot was always heading the wrong side of the post. Just minutes later, Javier Hernandez, who recently joined Real on loan, was brought down in the box by centre-back Yordan Minev. Ronaldo stepped up to take the penalty, which was expertly saved by Vladislav Stoyanov in the Ludogorets goal.
It wasn't long before Real had another opportunity to score, and they did, only for it to be wrongly ruled out for offside. Just 25 minutes of the game had gone by when the referee pointed to the spot again, and Ronaldo had another chance to convert, which he duly took. This time, it was Cosmin Moti, the hero of Ludo's qualifying matches, who pulled down Ronaldo.
Despite still being level, Ludogorets were showing no remorse and made several attempts to regain their lead. In almost identical play to the opening goal, a corner was swung in and met at the far post, but this time, the ball ended up on the roof of the net rather than in it.
Aleksandar Aleksandrov was the next to get a golden chance at goal, but the Bulgarian hit a weak shot straight into the arms of Iker Casillas. Real then went down the other end and tried to score, but Gareth Bale's header from point-blank range was comfortably caught by Stoyanov.
To end the first half action, Ludogorets had a second goal of their own ruled out. Roman Bezjak was put one-on-one with Iker Casillas, and after rounding the goalkeeper to score into an empty net, the Slovenian turned to celebrate, only to see the offside flag raised. Another tight decision, but this time, the right one.
Both sides had fantastic chances to score as the game dragged along into the 70th minute. Gareth Bale had another close-range header clawed away by Stoyanov, before Ronaldo dragged a shot across the face of goal. The best chance easily fell to Javier Hernandez, who somehow managed to miss an open goal from six yards, that coming after James Rodriguez played a cross past all five Ludogorets defenders. Sandwiched in-between that was a cheeky chipped shot from all of 30 yards by the Bulgarian A Group champions, who just couldn't convert a second goal to truly stun Real Madrid.
The home side were made to rue those missed chances, as Marcelo, who had been a threat from the left flank all game, put a cross into the box, which was met by Karim Benzema, who shrugged off the defenders marking him to slot the ball home with just 13 minutes left. Real left it late, but they just about managed to get all three points.
Ludogorets have made a good name for themselves so far despite two defeats from two. The games were played against sides they were never expected to get a result from (Liverpool at Anfield and Real Madrid at home), though they have put in two fantastic performances, almost snatching a point from either side. In the other Group B game, Liverpool travelled to FC Basel and were beaten 1-0, leaving them in third place in the table.