CSKA's Wernbloom relishes goal to remember

Pontus Wernbloom was celebrating "something to tell the grandchildren" after his last-gasp goal gave PFC CSKA Moskva a 1-1 home draw against Real Madrid CF.

The Swedish international joined CSKA from AZ Alkmaar last month and marked his first competitive appearance by volleying in Aleksei Berezutski's knockdown to snatch a draw with the final kick of the round of 16 first-leg match. "It was magical to make it 1-1 in the 93rd minute and of course it was a good debut," the 25-year-old midfielder told UEFA.com. "This will be a good memory one day when I am older, something to tell the grandchildren."

Wernbloom admitted to relief in the CSKA camp at salvaging a draw, particularly as Madrid had several opportunities to add to Cristiano Ronaldo's 28th-minute breakthrough, the Portuguese himself passing up two second-half openings. "We didn't create so many chances although I thought we started playing better football in the second half than the first," Wernbloom, formerly of IFK Göteborg, said. "Madrid had the better opportunities and we have to be happy with a 1-1 draw."

While Alan Dzagoev might have given CSKA an early lead, the Russian side largely struggled to find a way through the Madrid defence in their first competitive fixture since playing in the UEFA Champions League on 7 December. Even so, midfielder Zoran Tošić saw plenty of positives for the Premier-Liga team ahead of the Santiago Bernabéu sequel on 14 March. 

"Considering this was our first game of the year I think we can be happy," said the Serbian international, whose misdirected header had given Ronaldo the invitation to put Madrid in front. "We need to make sure we don't make the same errors [in the second leg] that we made today. We'll go to Madrid to fight and do our best."