Pierre-Philippe/AFP

Real celebrate Ramos' opening goal

Goals from Sergio Ramos and Ruud van Nistelrooy had put Madrid firmly in control before BATE's Anri Khagush was dismissed to make their uphill task all-but impossible.

Heavily favoured for a comfortable home win, Madrid wasted little time creating chances, but Van Nistelrooy could not find the target from close range in the third minute.

BATE responded with an ambitious long-range effort from Vladimir Rzhevskiy but showed little sign of breaking down the Madrid defence, and the hosts were soon back on the attack.

Guti missed a great chance in the seventh minute, but they did not have to wait long to get their noses in front as Guti turned provider, finding the run of Sergio Ramos for the attack-minded defender to fire home in the 11th minute.

There was no let up from Madrid, with Raul firing wide moments later.

Iker Casillas was called on to make his first save in the 14th minute, easily holding Khagush's header from Igor Stasevich's free-kick.

Back at the other end, Van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben both went close as the shots rained in on Sergey Veremko's goal.

BATE could still not find a way through the Madrid backline, and Mikhail Sivakov settled for a long-range shot in the 27th minute, but sent his effort wide left.

Summer-signing Rafael van der Vaart was the next to try his luck for Madrid, but his 20-yard effort sailed over the crossbar.

Madrid's rhythm was upset briefly when Fernando Gago hobbled off to be replaced by Mahamadou Diarra 10 minutes before half-time.

BATE came forward one more time before the break, but Vladislav Mirchev's ambitious volley from the edge of the area did not trouble Casillas.

The first half ended with Robben missing a great chance for the hosts, heading over from close range after getting up to meet Van der Vaart's free-kick,

Viktor Goncharenko sought to change things at half-time, bringing on Maksim Zhavnerchik to replace Stasevich, but the substitution did little to stem the flow of Madrid attacks, with Veremko soon forced to parry Sergio Ramos' shot to safety.

The Madrid pressure was increasing as Veremko was in action again moments later to tip Robben's shot around the post, but there was nothing he could do in the 57th minute as Van Nistelrooy got free close to goal and fired the ball home.

That was still not enough to satisfy Madrid who attacked again straight away, with Diarra's shot charged down by Alexey Khaletsky.

Whatever slim chances remained of BATE getting back into the game were effectively ended in the 62nd minute when Khagush picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Diarra.

Maksim Zhavnerchik launched another long-range effort for the visitors but was again off target, and their job for the rest of the night was reduced to damage limitation as they defended in numbers against Madrid.

Substitute Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Ramos both had chances in the 77th and 78th minutes but neither could find the target, and Veremko was on hand to keep out Van der Vaart's shot as time ran down.

Deep into injury time the Dutchman had one more chance to add to his Madrid account, but Veremko tipped his shot around the post.