A match that defined the entire season for Bayern and was perhaps no less important for Real Madrid. Thomas Tuchel did without any special surprises in the starting line-up, and we did not see any revelations from Ancelotti, Andriy Lunin was in goal, as the Italian specialist had promised the day before. Considering the draw in Munich, we all expected incredible passions and interesting football. Basically, that’s exactly what we got.
The first half was not so spectacular, but it was expected to be under the control of the “creamy”, although as under control, rather with their advantage, especially if we talk about the sharpness of the created moments. We saw some interesting approaches to Neuer’s goal, sometimes a few centimeters were not enough to close the cross, as was the case with Rodrigo, sometimes the shots were simply blocked, as with Bellingham, and sometimes the fart came into play together with Neuer. We remember the shot from outside the penalty area by Vinicius, when he hit the post, and the finish from Rodrigo was pulled by the experienced goalkeeper of the Munich team.
To this, Tuchel’s team responded with their counterattacks, two of them looked particularly sharp, but neither of them managed to finish with a good shot: Gnabry either shot through or you shot at Kane, but the round flew wide of the goal, and Sane, having enough space and time, issued an incomprehensible transmission, which was easily intercepted. This is how the first half turned out: the Madrid team aimed at the goal but did not score, while the guests played on the counterattack, but they could not make their chances come true. The most interesting thing was next.
In the opening of the second half, Vinicius and Rodrigo again created a danger: the first shot to the penalty area after a great run on the flank, and the second shot and literally missed the goal. It was difficult for the Germans to defend, although they were mostly disciplined enough, especially Matthias De Ligt and Konrad Leimer. However, over time they passed more and more often. Rodrigo’s free-kick, Vinicius’ strike after a winger…only the incredible Neuer kept his team in the game, a great performance from Manuel, apart from one episode in the final minutes.
Against the background of so many moments, the Madrid club did not fail to score, they themselves conceded a goal. A counterattack after a corner kick by the home team, which was dispersed by Harry Kane with a cool pass to the run of Alphonso Davis and the Canadian cleared Rüdiger and punched into the far corner of Lunin’s goal, such shots are simply not taken. A beautiful goal, which was Alfonso’s debut in the Champions League, he chose an almost perfect time for it. 0:1.
Literally a minute later, the “cream” equalized the score, at least they thought so. After a corner, the ball from Davies’ foot crossed the goal line of “Bavaria”, but before that there was a foul, so after reviewing the VAR, Szymon Marciniak canceled the goal. Watching the game became even more interesting, as the audience at the Santiago Bernabeu urgently demanded a goal.
As early as the 76th minute, Thomas Tuchel felt that it would be incredibly difficult to withstand the pressure from the opponent, so he made a defensive substitution: Kim Min-jae entered the field instead of Sane. Not to say that the defense of the visitors suddenly became iron concrete, because moments still arose: Vinicius literally missed the goal after a great pass from Rüdiger.
And when the last minutes of the game came, we saw a classic performance by the Madrid team, they just never give up, goals in the last minutes, when it is needed the most, is a common thing and mentally we were ready for it. A mistake by Neuer after a shot from Vinicius, he let the ball out of his hands and Joselu took advantage of it, and he sent the ball into the net. 1:1.
And you thought that was all? This is Madrid! The second goal arrived immediately, already in the time compensated by the referee. Rüdiger shot into the center, where Josela was ahead of everyone else. At first, the referees recorded offside, but the VAR indicated that everything was clean and it was 2:1. What a crazy reaction from the stadium followed. For so many years, you could get used to the comebacks of the Madrid players, but still you are surprised in a new way every time.
An interesting moment happened at the end, when Marciniak blew the whistle prematurely, recording an offside in the episode, when in the end the Munich team seemed to recover. But after the whistle, the hosts stopped playing, Lunin did not react at all to that shot from De Ligt. Replays showed that it was most likely offside, but is it necessary to blow the whistle so quickly to record the offside position? Doubtful.
Be that as it may, the royal club is in the final. Another German opponent awaits them there, this time Borussia Dortmund. Let’s see how difficult it will be for them to cope with them. Munich caused problems, but everything ended too classically.
Champions League, semi-finals, second leg
Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid)
Chief Judge: Szymon Marcyniak (Poland)
“Real Madrid” – “Bayern” 2:1 (total score — 4:3)
Naked: Joselu (88, 90+1) — Davis (68)
*In the 71st minute, an own goal by Alphonso Davies was disallowed due to a foul
“Real Madrid”: Lunin — Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy — Valverde (Joselu, 81), Kroos (Modric, 69), Tchuameni (Kamavinga, 70) — Bellingham (Militao, 90+10) — Rodrigo (Diaz, 81), Vinicius
“Bavaria”: Neuer — Kimmich, De Ligt, Dier, Mazraoui — Laimer, Pavlovic — Sane (Kim, 76), Musiala (Mueller, 85), Gnabry (Davis, 27) — Kane (Shupo-Moting, 85)
Warning: Kamavinga (90+11)
