(CNN) -- It was Muhammad Ali who warned his opponents he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". Now, perhaps Borussia Dortmund can claim similar after crushing Real Madrid 4-1 in the first leg of its Champions League semifinal Wednesday. Decked out in black and yellow, it swarmed around Real from the start with a buzz and infectious enthusiasm to be marveled at -- but it was left to one man to administer the fatal sting. Robert Lewandowski, the Poland striker, was already one of the most feared forwards in European football before his took the field.
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Borussia Dortmund crush Real Madrid 4-1 in first leg of Champions League semifinal
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Robert Lewandowski scored all four goals for German side
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Cristiano Ronaldo had made it 1-1 three minutes before halftime
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Real host second leg at the Bernabeu next Tuesday
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
His four goals lit up an extraordinary encounter in which @placeholder went from young pretenders to serious contenders.
Real Madrid
Real
Real Madrid
Forget that @placeholder, the nine-time winners and richest club in the world, was expected to qualify for the final.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Forget that Real, boasting the mercurial talent of @placeholder, failed to produce their normal level of performance.
Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski
@placeholder led the line, a lone warrior refusing to be tamed by a Real defense appearing more and more desperate as the night progressed.
Real Madrid
Real
Real Madrid
@placeholder would have expected Dortmund to start at breakneck speed, but even it was taken aback by the pace, power and ferocity of the German side.
German
Real would have expected Dortmund to start at breakneck speed, but even it was taken aback by the pace, power and ferocity of the @placeholder side.