La Décima is one step away from being a reality for Real Madrid who advanced to the Champions League final for the first time since 2002 with a 4-0 second leg semifinal victory over Bayern Munich on Tuesday night at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Rolando each scored braces for Los Blancos who dethroned the tournament holders on a 5-0 aggregate. Real will now await in the final the winner of Wednesday’s second leg semifinal between city rivals Atlético Madrid and English side Chelsea, led by former Real manager Jose Mourinho.
Head coach went with his trusted European XI with Iker Casillas in goal and a back four of Dani Carvajal, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Fabio Coentrão. In midfield Luka Modric and Ángel di María joined Xabi Alonso while up front it was a return of the BBC with Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano forming the attacking trident.
Real served notice early that they would take the game to Bayern with several early chances as chances from both Bale and Di María missed. However, the goal for the visitors would come as they secured the precious away goal in the 14th minute thanks to Ramos. The Andalusian defender silenced the deafening Munich crowd with a towering header that out Real up 1-0. Modric lofted a corner kick into the area and Ramos, completely unmarked, outleaped everyone to power a header home past Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
The Real goal shook Bayern as the normally composed Germans started to lash out and one such aggression resulted in a Real free kick in the 25th minute. The resulting kick from Di María was flicked on by Pepe and it found the head of Ramos who sent in his second header of the night to make Bayern’s comeback task even more difficult.
The strike that would then salt away the tie third was a classic counter from Ancelotti’s side as a ball was fed into Bale and with Ronaldo charging upfield, the Welshman swept over a cross to the Portuguese who slammed the ball past Neuer to record his 50th Champions League goal as a Real Madrid player.
With the scoreline squarely in their favor, Real looked comfortable to clinically play out the second half allowing Bayern to control possession but keep the desperate defending champions off the scoreboard.
But Bayern would never truly trouble Casillas or the Real defense in the second stanza as the cheers of Real Madrid fans inside the stadium grew louder as each minute ticked by. The only stain of the night for Ancelotti was a late first half yellow card to Alonso, which means the Basque midfielder will be unable to feature in his first Champions league final since 2007 when he was a member of Liverpool.
Ronaldo capped the magical night with a sublime free kick from just outside the area that he sent skipping under a pair of Bayern players who had jumped while lined up as a defensive wall. Neuer was utterly helpless to stop it as the shot went searing under the laces and into the net to make it 4-0 in the 90th minute. Alonso final suspension side, Tuesday night’s victory in Munich will forever live in Real Madrid lore as they became just the second Spanish club ever to beat Bayern Munich in Munich — the first being Deportivo in a Champions League group stage match in 2002 – and with that, they now stand 90 minutes away from tasting European glory for a 10th time.
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good.
I do not know who you are but definitely you’re
going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!