Real Madrid made it through to the Champions League quarterfinals, but not without yet another defeat, the team's second in a row on Wednesday to a tough Schalke 04 team in the second leg of the Champions League's Round of 16..

The bigger issue here was that the team lost at home despite holding a 3-2 lead early in the second half. If it had conceded another goal and lost 5-3 then the team's hopes of winning a second straight Champions League title would have been lost.

Latin Post breaks down the game and some things we learned from Madrid's 4-3 defeat against Schalke 04:

Ronaldo the Hero - But is he Back?

Real Madrid was reeling. Schalke had the team on the ropes and looked more likely to put together the second and fourth goals of the tie.

But Cristiano Ronaldo, who has struggled to produce in 2015, came out in top force and put together one of his best, if not his finest performance of 2015. He was tracking back to defend. He was running with speed. He was looking to make the smart passes to teammates to facilitate scoring chances.

But most importantly, he scored goals. And not just tap-ins or penalties, something which he is derided for. And the goals did not just come with the team up 2-0 or 3-0. No, he scored two glorious headers to equalize the game each time in the first half, giving Real Madrid and its fans a huge respite from a horrid performance. His goals restored the two-goal aggregate lead and reminded everyone why he is the reigning Ballon d'Or winner.

One has to really be wondering if Ronaldo and Messi are constantly looking over at one another's performances, because it seems that these days, the two superstars bring out the best in one another. With his two goals, Ronaldo had pulled into a tie with Messi in goals scored over all competitions; he also tied Messi in goals scored in the Champions League this year, thus tying him for most goals scored in the tournament all-time.

But is this sustainable? Or will we see Ronaldo regress to the non-entity he resembled earlier this calendar year?

Real Madrid's Putrid Defense

The two goals allowed in the first half were simply inexcusable. Christian Fuchs was completely alone on the left side and had a nice and easy shot at goal. Goalie Iker Casillas was woeful on the shot and should have done better to get his two hands on it. The second goal was more of the same. Fuchs was all alone on the left with and had an easy blast at goal. Once again, Casillas got his hands on it and actually made the save on the shot. But he left it in the slot for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to blast into the empty net he had in front of him.

And it could have easily been 4-2 by the end of one. Huntelaar had a shot from the right outside the box that he hit the crossbar with. And earlier in the half, Raphael Varane passed the ball right back to... guess who?... Huntelaar who was stopped by Casillas and saw his effort wind up going wide.

There was too much space allowed for the shot on the third goal and the fourth? Luka Modric went approached the tackle the wrong way, three defenders got caught watching the throughball and Huntelaar got too much space.

This is not the confident defense of a team in contention for the top trophy in European Club soccer. And this is also not a team that looks ready to take on a Barcelona team in top form.

Iker Giveth and Iker Taketh

Spain's number one goal has come under tremendous criticism over the last year and this performance will only add gasoline to that fire. He was at fault on arguably the first two goals as he did not position himself properly on the first and made a horrific redirection on the second.

That said he came up huge in the waning minutes when Schalke pushed for the fifth goal that would have eliminated Madrid. He even managed to make a terrific catch off a corner, something that is a rare sight for Madrid these days from its number one keeper.

Luka Modric Did Not Miss a Step, Until He Does

A bright spot was the return of Luka Modric who made one seam pass after another, breaking apart Schalke's defense and helping Madrid find space. He made a gorgeous lob pass to spring a counter on the right wing and at one point made a few terrific turn outside the box before sending in Karim Benzema, who was wrongly called offsides.

He did, however, falter in his defensive game on the counter that would lead to the fourth goal for Schalke. Instead of pressuring Sane before he made the through pass, Modric stood there and watched the play develop. Had he pressured Sane, maybe he forces him to the outside and thus breaks up the counter's momentum.

Now What?

So Real Madrid is through to the quarterfinals, but this performance is very dispiriting to Madrid fans hoping for an 11th European title. A 4-3 defeat on their home turf is embarrassing, at best, and this team might have deserved to give up more goals if not for the aforementioned saves from Casillas.

This team needs to find some consistency in attack, but especially on defense, where it looked too easy for Schalke to exploit spaces all too often. If this team does not tighten up its play, then a quarterfinals exit is not only likely but inevitable.