Real made another upset that will be written in the history books and with Joselu as the hero who scored two goals in the end, they defeated Bayern 2-1 and qualified for the Champions League final for the 18th time, where they will face Dortmund.
Real did it again with a twist at the end! When he made a decision, he threw Bayern on the canvas and with two goals from Joselu, he won 2-1 in the second semi-final of the Champions League and together with the qualification to the final, after the 2-2 draw in Munich.
The “merengues” were better, they had an amazing Manuel Neuer against them, but they found themselves losing to a goal by Alphonso Davies, probably their player of the new season.
Joselu found the solution in the 88′ and 90+2′, however, and sent the Spaniards to “Wembley”, where on June 1st they will face Dortmund.
Carlo Ancelotti selected the Munich line-up with the exception of Dani Carvajal who returned to the right wing of the defence, while Ferlan Mendy remained on the left, leaving Eduardo Camavinga on the bench. Conversely, Thomas Tuchel dropped Jae-Min Kim, who made two mistakes in the first leg, and put Eric Dier alongside Matthijs de Ligt in central defence.
The hosts entered the penalty area more strongly, winning a corner after just 15 seconds. The ball circulated more than the “meringues” feet, without creating the big phase until the 13th minute. First Vinicius sent the ball onto the post and then Manuel Neuer denied Rodrigo from close range on Real’s double great chance.
Vinicius did almost everything Bayern’s defense wanted playing from the right, but the Spaniards’ big problem was a failure to execute. The Bavarians tried to take advantage of it, especially on the counter-attack, but the fastest player on their roster, Leroy Sane, was completely out of sorts and wasted attacks even to complain to the referee.
Jude Bellingham was sidelined with Rodrigo and Vinicius playing on painkillers due to knee problems, but the first forced change was for Tuchel, who withdrew the injured Serge Gnabry for Alphonso Davies, Real’s likely next left-back.
Neuer, on the one hand, was asked to save even Rodrigo’s cross shot, Andrei Lunin, on the other hand, sent a corner to a long shot by Harry Kane that ended up wide, in an informal duel between the two goalkeepers.
The two coaches did not make any changes and initially Ancelotti was vindicated. Real shut out Bayern at home mainly because of Vinicius’s dancing moves from the left. The Brazilian was elusive, he passed two and three opponents as if they were stopped and entering the area from the left, he constantly created dangers.
Either he or Rodrigo forced Neuer to remember his good old self with stunning interventions even from contact. Bayern kept a clean sheet thanks to the miracles of the German goalkeeper and in the 68th minute it was time to turn the tide.
On a counter-attack from the left, Davies beat Antonio Riedinger and made it 1-0 for Bayern with a superb shot that turned the game around. Ancelotti immediately dropped Kamavinga and Luka Modric into the match and Tuchel brought on Kim in place of Sane, turning Bayern into a three-stopper formation.
The “merengues” sent the ball into the net but the goal was controlled by Simon Marciniak and disallowed for an aggressive foul by Nacho on Joshua Kimmich.
The goal gave a lead and courage to Bayern, who, although up until that point they were quite behind, after 1-0 they started to attack even on the counter. Real became stressed and lacked clarity, with Vinicius no longer able to break down the opposition defence.
Bayern looked closer to the next goal and Real lacked ideas to threaten. Cramps from the Bayern players stopped the pace of the match several times, but in the 81st minute the checkmate move was made.
Ancelotti threw Joselu into the fray and in the 88th minute the Spanish striker took advantage of a mistake by Neuer who lost the ball through his hands and with a rebound equalized at 1-1. Before the Bavarians recovered, with Tuchel having withdrawn Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane, another defensive lapse came in the 2nd minute of stoppage time, with Joselu making it 2-1 from close range.
The improbable reversal did not come at the end of the match, as there were still several minutes of stoppage time. However, Bayern failed to take advantage of them and the 2-1 sent Real to the “Wembley” final, where they will claim the 15th trophy in their history.
- REAL: Lunin, Carvajal, Riedinger, Nacho, Mendy, Tswameni (70′ Kamavinga), Kroos (69′ Modric), Valverde (81′ Diath), Bellingham (90+10′ Militao), Rodrigo (81′ Joselu), Vinicius
- BAGERN: Neuer, Kimmich, De Ligt, Dier, Mazraoui, Pavlovic, Leimer, Sane (78′ Kim), Musiala (85′ Miller), Gnabry (27′ Davies), Kane (85′ Tsuppo-Moting)
The results of the semi-finals
FIRST GAMES
- Bayern – Real 2-2 (53′ Sane, 57′ pen. Kane / 24′, 83′ pen. Vinicius)
- Dortmund – Paris 1-0 (36′ Philkrug)
SECOND MATCHES
- Paris – Dortmund 0-1 (50′ Hummels)
- Real – Bayern 2-1 (88′, 90+2′ Joselu / 68′ Davis)
Final (“Wembley”)
- 01/06 22:00 Real – Dortmund