Both teams failed to trouble the score-sheet and the tie now heads to Dortmund with everything to play for.

But despite failing to find the back of the net in front of their home crowd, a happy Pellegrini said he was content with his team’s performance, able to keep the ‘excellent’ Dortmund at bay.

And the 59-year-old was quietly confident Malaga could sneak into the semi-finals with a shock result in Germany.

“It was a very good game from both teams, who each tried to get into the opposition box,” Pellegrini told uefa.com. “The crowd were happy. Dortmund are an excellent side.

“If we look at their campaign in this UEFA Champions League season, they scored four goals at Ajax, also scored in Madrid and again away to Manchester City.

“It was an open game and the tie is absolutely open. Let’s start well in Dortmund.”

However, Malaga will be without both Weligton and Manuel Iturra for the return trip, and Pellegrini must devise a plan to keep Dortmund’s young brigade without the duo.

“(Weligton and Manuel Iturra) are important players; luckily (Martín) Demichelis didn’t get a yellow card as well, so we will see how we replace those two,” he said.

“Dortmund’s team are all good young players with great technique and dynamism.”

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But Schalke scorer, midfielder Jermaine Jones, will miss the second leg of their last-16 tie on March 12 through suspension after picking up his third yellow card of the competition — 10 minutes before scoring.

Jones called the yellow card “stupid” but said the team was “absolutely satisfied” with the result.

Burak Yilmaz opened the scoring against the run of play in the 12th, displaying great skill to lift the ball over Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes with the back of his heel before blasting the ball past Timo Hildebrand.

Jones was booked in the 35th after calling for a yellow card for an opponent, but finished off a swift counterattack to equalize before the interval. Jefferson Farfan ran onto Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s ball forward before playing it into the centre for the American to score emphatically.

“Whenever it comes to the crunch, we’re there,” said Hildebrand, referring to the club’s poor midseason form.

Huntelaar, who recovered from an eye injury to play, missed two good chances to improve Schalke’s record of just one win from its last 13 games across all competitions.

Galatasaray defender Dany Nounkeu cleared from the Dutchman in the first minute, when Jones drew a save from Fernando Muslera and Farfan played in the rebound.

A wayward pass from Schalke midfielder Roman Neustaedter led to the opening goal, with recent signings Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba both involved before Selcuk Inan found Burak Yilmaz to score his seventh goal of the competition.

Huntelaar then missed with the goal at his mercy after failing to connect with Hoewedes’ header at the far post.

Two minutes later, Hildebrand saved from Drogba and former Schalke midfielder Hamit Altintop struck the crossbar from the rebound.

Hildebrand was again called into action to deny Burak Yilmaz, before Jones drew the sides level.

Sneijder was taken off at halftime after failing to deal with Schalke’s forays down the right.

However, the visitors maintained most of the possession after the break, only to be let down by the final ball.

The 19-year-old Julian Draxler berated Huntelaar for failing to read his intentions as another pass went astray in the penalty area.

Huntelaar and Burak Yilmaz had chances to win at either end, but the Dutchman fired over before being replaced, while the impressive Turkey striker was narrowly wide of the far post.

Galatasaray midfielder Nordin Amrabat laid out the strategy for the return leg: “The formula for victory is very simple. We need to score and win (in Gelsenkirchen). But it won’t be an easy task.”

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It was a miserable night for Madrid, who was without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, with Kaka sent off 19 minutes after coming on as a substitute, while Jose Maria Callejon had a goal disallowed for a borderline offside decision.

The result means Madrid is 15 points behind La Liga leader Barcelona, which plays Malaga on Sunday, and four behind neighbor Atletico.

Osasuna had the better of the second half and could have won, but its final ball continually let them down.

Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who had been dropped by Mourinho for the past two league games, returned to the side with replacement Antonio Adan suspended following his red card last time out.

Ronaldo was suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last week, and his absence was keenly felt.

Mourinho acknowledged the strong performance of Casillas but would not guarantee the club captain will be in the starting side next week.

In our last two games, the team has played well defensively, and (Casillas) has been a part of that,” Mourinho explained. “I liked how he played against Celta as well, rising to the occasion to give his team a boost. Nevertheless, it is still too early to tell if he will play against Valencia on Tuesday.”

There was little of note in the opening stages with neither team creating any clear openings.

Osasuna’s Damia’s opening shot went wide, and it took until the 25th minute for Madrid to have an effort on goal, with Angel Di Maria firing past the post.

Madrid was finding it a struggle to get in behind the hosts’ defense, and when Fabio Coentrao found himself unmarked on the left of the area, rather than provide a crisp pass to the onrushing Gonzalo Higuain, the defender headed the ball into the ground and the hosts cleared.

Callejon’s back header narrowly cleared the bar for Madrid and as the half wore down, Osasuna midfielder Alvaro Cejudo blazed a half-volley high and wide.

Madrid failed to take advantage of a good chance in the final minute when Callejon set up Coentrao with the goalkeeper out of position but he fired wide.

The second half started much as the first ended with plenty of possession for Madrid but no clear openings.

Two quick-fire corners for Osasuna ended with Manuel Lolo heading over when he could have directed it across Casillas and into the far corner, but the hosts were enjoying a threatening spell, with Emiliano Armenteros forcing the goalkeeper to go down to his left.

The tempo of the game had risen considerably and Osasuna sensed it could take all three points, an outcome that appeared more possible when Madrid was reduced to 10 men.

Kaka had only been on the pitch for two minutes when he was booked and when he did not retreat so Osasuna could take a quick free kick, he was given a second yellow in the 77th minute.

However, it was Madrid that thought it had taken the lead moments later, but Callejon was judged to have been offside in a borderline decision.

Karim Benzema forced Fernandez to go down to collect his shot in Madrid’s first shot on target in the second half but it was one of the last kicks of a miserable game for the visitors.

Roberto Soldado took his tally to 17 goals for the season as Valencia beat Sevilla 2-0 and continued its improvement since Ernesto Valverde replaced Mauricio Pellegrino as coach.

Los Che made it seven wins from eight games under Valverde to move up to seventh a point behind Malaga in the final Champions League spot in fourth. Sevilla remains 12th in the table following the loss.

Soldado netted from close range five minutes into the second half then wrapped up the win in the closing moments with a header from a Pablo Piatti corner to make it 11 La Liga goals for the season.

Patrick Ebert inspired Valladolid with two goals and an assist as it claimed its first win in five games over Mallorca with a 3-1 victory.

The German fired the hosts into the lead with a wonderful strike from 20 yards after 21 minutes but Mallorca was level before halftime as Victor rose to head home Javier Arizmendi’s cross 16 minutes later.

Ebert proved the difference in the dying minutes as Oscar Gonzalez turned home his cross three minutes from time and the former Hertha Berlin man then went through on goal and jinked past Dudu Aouate before slotting into an empty net.

Sergio Garcia’s first-half goal was enough to hand Espanyol a crucial three points as it moved out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo.

The former Spanish international gave the hosts the perfect start as he tapped home Christian Stuani’s cross from close range on 23 minutes, and despite having more of the ball after the break, Celta struggled to create clear-cut chances.

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