Real Madrid put themselves in a fantastic position to reach their fourth Champions League final in five years by beating Bayern Munich 2-1 last night.The win is Real's third consecutive at the Allianz Arena, and they merely have to avoid defeat in the return leg next week to have the chance to win their 13th title in the competition.Surprisingly, they achieved the crucial victory without Cristiano Ronaldo being directly involved in either goal, something which you don't see very often at all.After another Keylor Navas howler allowed Joshua Kimmich to open the scoring for the hosts, Marcelo and Marco Asensio responded either side of half time to leave Bayern in a world of trouble in the tie.However, they can take heart from Juventus' 3-1 win at the Bernabeu in the last round, knowing that if they can replicate that feat they will be in the final for the first time since they won it in 2013.In truth, it was a very sticky performance from Real overall, though they showed excellent speed and precision on the counter attack.Asensio's strike was the result of a stunning break from a Bayern corner, and they could've and probably should've added to their tally afterwards.When Dani Carvajal was forced through injury in the second half, Zinedine Zidane made the somewhat surprising decision to send Karim Benzema on to boost their attacking options on the break.However, things didn't exactly go to plan for the Frenchman.That's because Benzema showed the abysmal form that's seen him find the net only nine times in 40 games this season for Los Blancos.In added time, the former Lyon striker had the chance to slide Asensio in for a one-on-one chance, and in all likelihood kill the tie off.What he did though turned out to be rather embarrasing.

Instead of choosing the obvious and quite frankly easier pass, he sought out Ronaldo - who was in an offside position.

Earlier in the season, Benzema had a strange feud with Gary Lineker after the presenter criticised him on Twitter.

Last night, Lineker couldn't resist sticking the boot in after watching the poor mistake.

This time, in fairness, Benzema can have no real complaints; it was a shocker.

Should it come down to a single goal margin in the second leg, he could very will live to regret that error.

He did still have a better night than Gareth Bale though, who remained on the bench for the entire 90 minutes for the fourth time this season.

The pair will be hoping for better luck when Bayern visit the Bernabeu, but the pressure will be on the hosts to defend their lead in front of an enormously expectant crowd.

In the long-term though, it seems like their futures could almost certainly be away from Madrid.