German side Dortmund hammered Spanish giants Real Madrid 4-1 last night in the Champions League semi-final first leg.

Dortmund went close to taking the lead inside seven minutes, Marco Reus’ effort kept out superbly by Real keeper Diego Lopez.

The home side were ahead though on eight minutes. Mario Gotze did well down the wing, found Robert Lewandowski with a superb cross and the Polish striker made no mistake from close-range.

The visitors could not get into the game, but Cristiano Ronaldo had an effort turned away by Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller on 24 minutes. Real equalised on the stroke of half-time.

Marco Reus felt he should have had a penalty-kick, only for Real to hit the home side with a quick counter-attack.

Mats Hummels attempted to play the ball back to his keeper, only to put Gonzalo Higuain in on goal and the Argentinian international found Ronaldo at the far post for the simplest of finishes. Dortmund look rattled by the goal, but came out strongly in the second half.

The home side regained the lead just after half-time Marco Reus found Lewandowski inside the area and the Pole toe-poked an effort past Lopez, despite claims from Real that the striker was offside the goal rightfully stood.

Dortmund made it three on 55 minutes. Marcel Schmelzer found Lewandowski; the striker sidestepped Pepe, before firing a powerful shot beyond Lopez from just inside the area.

The victory was complete in the 67^th minute. Real midfielder Xabi Alonso produced a clumsy challenge to bring down Reus in the penalty area and Lewandowski scored his fourth goal of the game from the resulting spot-kick.

The victory put Dortmund in pole position (no pun intended) to make it to the Champions League final, where they could face arch-rivals Bayern Munich. It will take a special performance from Real in the second leg to make it to the final.

Can Dortmund win the Champions League?