April 6, at Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, Germany.
In the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, Real Madrid visited Wolfsburg.
Just one minute and twelve seconds after kickoff, Suarez drifted to the left wing and played a beautiful one-two with Hazard before sending a diagonal pass into the middle of the box. Yang Yang, who had been lying in wait, surged forward and fired a left-footed shot past the Wolfsburg goalkeeper, scoring Real Madrid's opener.
In the thirteenth minute, Mascherano won the ball in midfield and drove forward before quickly passing to David Silva. The Spanish midfielder played a through ball, and after Yang Yang controlled it outside the box, he found himself facing Dante directly.
One-on-one, Yang Yang deftly feinted past Dante, making the Brazilian center-back think he was going to cut in along the byline. Instead, he suddenly dragged the ball back, pulled it to the right, and smoothly whipped a curling shot with his right foot.
The ball once again crashed into the top-right corner of Wolfsburg's goal. Two-nil!
With two goals in quick succession, Real Madrid had completely overwhelmed their opponents.
In truth, this was also a reflection of the gap in strength between the two teams. Against Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, packed with superstars, had led everyone to believe that victory was practically secured in advance and that reaching the semifinals was a foregone conclusion.
After taking a two-goal lead, Real Madrid slowed the tempo slightly and took appropriate control of the match.
But in the eighteenth minute, Real Madrid launched another attack. Yang Yang charged forward and tried to receive the ball in the middle of the box. Wolfsburg center-back Naldo rushed in from the side. As the two contested the ball, Naldo kicked Yang Yang in the knee.
Yang Yang fell inside Wolfsburg's