Spanish Real Madrid won a strong-willed victory over German “Bayern” in the second leg of the 1/2 finals of the Champions League and reached the final of the most prestigious European Cup. Sports — about the miraculous salvation of the “royal club” and the “curse” of English forward Harry Kane, with whose arrival the Munich team did not win a single trophy in a season for the first time in 12 years.
UEFA Champions League08 May 2024 • starts at 22:00Finished
Real MadridSpain2 : 1
88' • Joselu (Vinicius Junior)
90' • Joselu (Antonio Rudiger)
68' • Alphonso Davies (Harry Kane)
Twelve years under Madrid oppression In 2012, Bayern defeated Real Madrid in a penalty shootout at the Santiago Bernabeu and reached the home final of the Champions League, which turned into a tragedy for the Munich team. Since then, the paths of the Germans and Spaniards have crossed in the Champions League playoffs three more times, and Los Blancos have always emerged victorious:
- < strong>2014/Eliminating Bayern in the semi-finals on the way to the long-awaited “decima” (tenth Champions League trophy) with a total score of 5:0;
- 2017/Two defeats of the German champions (1:2, 2:4) at the quarter-final stage;
- 2018/Again the semi-final and the most important victory of Real Madrid away (2:1), which, coupled with a home draw, brought Zinedine Zidane’s boys into the Kiev final.
Interestingly, in all these draws the “royal club” eventually became the winner of the Champions League. Considering that Borussia Dortmund was waiting for the winner of the pair in the final, the likelihood of Carlo Ancelotti's final success after the liquidation of Bayern would be high this time too. After a productive draw at the Allianz Arena, the teams arrived in Madrid, where the newly crowned champions of Spain were seen as clear favorites.
Neuer is not aging, Lunin is not mistaken “Real” immediately took the initiative and in the 10th minute created the most dangerous moment: Vinicius Junior hit the far corner, but the post came to the rescue (the goal frame, oh how it loves to play along with German teams in the semi-finals), and with Rodrigo’s finishing the magnificent Manuel Neuer did it. The 2014 world champion averted the threat in the 40th, when after Vinicius's cross no one touched the ball — if the 38-year-old German had not reacted, the score would have been opened.
Bayern only made the favorite nervous once. At the end of half an hour of the game, Kane volleyed into the bottom corner — again the goalkeeper, the hero of the confrontation with Manchester City, Andrei Lunin, was at his best. Nussair Mazraoui's tight shot also crushed the Ukrainian before the break. And that’s all — the first half turned out to be closed and did not please the fans with goals.
The Canadian could have become a hero. The second half of the meeting started brightly. Even in the first half, Alphonso Davies, who replaced Serge Gnabry, was covered by Dani Carvajal, but after a rebound the ball almost flew into the hosts' goal, missing the crossbar. “Real” bet on Vinicius, who was burning out the left flank… And tried as best he could to wake up Jude Bellingham, who was completely lost on the field. Thomas Tuchel still had to cheer up the Bayern defense, because the superhero abilities of Neuer, who again showed his class after a free kick and a shot from the Brazilian, might not be enough for the whole 90 (or even 120) minutes.
It seemed like a goal » Real Madrid is about to happen… And Bayern scored! It turned out cool: in the 68th minute, Davis, in the style of Arjen Robben, moved to the radius of the penalty area and, on the second attempt, put it into the far corner, leaving no chance for Lunin.
However, the “royal club” very quickly bounced back: Davis scored again. True, the Canadian corrected the ball into his own goal. However, referee Szymon Marciniak overturned the goal and overturned it according to the case: Carvajal brazenly pushed Joshua Kimmich and deprived the team of a goal.
But the MVP was the on-loan Catalan, owned by Espanyol, Jose Luis Sanmartin Mato, aka Joselu, who appeared on the field at the very climax and gave Real a ticket to the final. In three minutes, the Spaniard scored a double! Neuer, who was dragging the whole match, made a serious mistake by hitting in front of him, for which he paid with the first missed ball. And then there was a second one, into an empty net. At first they didn’t want to count it, but the video replay showed that there was no offside.
Real still finished off Bayern (its goal in extra time was canceled due to an offside position) and began to collect suitcases to London. The “hidden finale” is behind us — on June 1, Los Blancos will have the main match of the season, in which they absolutely cannot lose to the fifth team in the Bundesliga.
There will be no remake of the 2013 final. Although it could have turned out beautifully! 11 years after the decisive match at Wembley between Bayern and Borussia, Munich and the Bumblebees could once again fight for the main club trophy of the Old World in the heart of England.
Instead, we will see Real Madrid march for 15 -th «eared» cup. And Marco Reus' farewell to Dortmund in a confrontation in which the unlucky German will try to conquer the most significant peak in his busy but injury-plagued career.
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