It was an entertaining, topsy turvy encounter in Bavaria as Bayern Munich shared a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final.
LINEUPS
BAY XI: Neuer*; Kimmich, Kim, Dier, Mazraoui; Laimer, Goretzka; Musiala, Muller, Sane; Kane
BAY SUBS: Peretz, Ulreich, Upamecano, Guerreiro, Davies, Pavlovic, Gnabry, Bryan Zaragoza, Choupo-Moting, Tel
RMA XI: Lunin; Lucas Vazquez, Rudiger, Nacho*, Mendy; Tchouameni; Fede Valverde, Kroos; Bellingham; Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo
RMA SUBS: Arrizabalaga, Courtois, Eder Militao, Fran Garcia, Modric, Camavinga, Dani Ceballos, Guler, Brahim Diaz, Joselu
Action: It was a very fast Bayern Munich start early on with several corners for the hosts coming before Leroy Sane blazed over and then Harry Kane had an ambitious effort from around the half-way line dip onto the roof of the net.
However, as Real Madrid do, they dug themselves in and eventually took the lead through two moments of quality as an excellent Toni Kroos pass was latched onto by Vinicius Junior and he slotted well past Manuel Neuer.
The first-half continued at quite a fast pace before the players of both sides appeared to fade before half-time with temperatures close to 30 degrees in Munich.
The second-half, though, was extremely enjoyable and another fast pace as Jude Bellingham calmly played the ball into the path of Kroos and the Germany international had a whipped, curled effort saved strongly by Neuer.
Then, completely out of nothing, Leroy Sane turned on the style to bring his side level. Driving in from the right-hand side, he drifted by Ferland Mendy before unleashing a wicked effort beyond Andriy Lunin.
What a strike that is from Leroy Sané 👏
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 30, 2024
The German SMASHES Bayern Munich back in to the semi-final 💥#UCL pic.twitter.com/Zef1SIyZX3
Before the two teams had a moment to settle and adapt to it being all-square, Bayern found themselves ahead when Jamal Musiala was tripped carelessly by Lucas Vazquez in the box. That allowed Harry Kane to step up, stutter and cooly slot away a penalty to give the hosts a lead on the night.
That lead was very nearly doubled a few minutes later when Eric Dier had a free header from a corner but could only direct his effort straight down the throat of Lunin.
Madrid steadied themselves, though, and came on strong in the final 20 or so minutes with both Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior finding themselves in behind but being denied by Neuer on both occasions.
They eventually did break down Bayern once again, though, with a penalty. Kim Min-jae, similar in carelessness to Lucas Vazquez’ earlier foul, brought down the turning Rodrygo and Vinicius stepped up to confidently level things.
The big picture: Bayern Munich have already relinquished the Bundesliga title so may be tempted to heavily rotated this weekend when they face high flying Stuttgart in Stuttgart this Saturday afternoon. Real Madrid have all but clinched the Spanish title and are chasing the double so will also likely rotate when they take on struggling Cadiz at the Bernabeu this weekend.
Man of the match: Toni Kroos. It was a masterful performance from the experienced German as he showed all of his class and quality against his former club at the Allianz Arena.
EVENTS
Kick-off
’24 | GOAL: Vinicius Junior (0-1)
Half-time
’53 | GOAL: Sane (1-1)
’57 | GOAL: Kane [pen] (2-1)
’83 | GOAL: Vinicius Junior [pen] (2-2)
Full-time
2-2 | ||
Leroy Sané 53' Harry Kane 57' (pen.) | Vinícius Júnior 24' 83' (pen.) |
