Real Madrid’s Ronaldo keeping the ball away from Philipp Lahm.

Real Madrid moved a step closer to a 10th European Cup as they blew away defending champions Bayern Munich to reach the final of the Champions League at the Allianz Arena, yesterday.

Holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg of their semi-final, a first-half brace from Sergio Ramos and two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo handed Real a comfortable 4-0 win that takes them to the Stadium of Light to face either Chelsea or city rivals Atletico on May 24.

The only negative for Real on a night when they took their goal tally in this season’s Champions League to a record 37 was a booking for Xabi Alonso that rules the midfielder out of the final.

Both sides looked nervous at the outset and it was not surprising that the first chance came from an error as Manuel Neuer came out of his area to head away but could only find Gareth Bale who fired over an empty net from the distance.

Angel Di Maria fired a speculative effort over the bar shortly after and it was not long before the visitors took the lead in the 16th minute.

Dante did well to cut out a Karim Benzema chance but from the resulting corner Luka Modric swung in the ball and an unmarked Ramos headed powerfully home.

The Germans were now looking at an uphill task and that became nearly impossible four minutes later when rampant Real had their second.

Toni Kroos fouled Bale on the right around 25 yards out and Di Maria’s delivery was flicked on by Pepe to the edge of the six-yard box, where Ramos met the ball with a diving header to double the lead.

Real predictably seemed quite happy to sit back and hit their opponents on the counter and Ronaldo took advantage in the 34th minute.

Di Maria spread the ball right to Benzema, who freed Bale and the Welshman and Ronaldo were two-on-one with Jerome Boateng. Bale slipped the ball across to the Portuguese and he calmly slotted below Neuer.

Everything was going perfectly for the Spaniards but they suffered a blow in the 38th minute when Alonso went in the book for a clumsy challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Tempers were clearly beginning to fray as Bayern swarmed round Iker Casillas’s goal without really troubling the goalkeeper and Franck Ribery may have been lucky to stay on after an apparent slap to the face of Daniel Carvajal was not spotted by referee Pedro Proenca just before half-time.

Guardiola brought on Javi Martinez and it was Bayern who had the first chance after the break as Ramos was forced to head over his own bar under pressure.

The second half was a far more subdued affair and despite Arjen Robben curling an effort wide and Ribery bringing a save from Casillas, neither side looked like scoring in the first 15 minutes.

Ronaldo headed over but neither side showed much of a threat in the closing stages as Carlo Ancelotti brought off Ramos, nullifying the danger of a yellow card that would cost him his place in Lisbon.

Ronaldo completed the rout in the final minute with a low free-kick from 18 yards as Real completely outclassed the Bundesliga champions.

Semi-finals, second legs