da brdice: GOAL runs through all of the winners and losers as Los Blancos punished two calamitous errors from the home side at the Allianz Arena
da realsbet: Real Madrid just always seem to find away to stay alive in the Champions League, don't they? Los Blancos have often been outplayed in continental competition over the years, but they rarely fail to produce a moment of magic or capitalise on opposition errors. We saw a bit of both in Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich.
Vinicius Jr opened the scoring completely against the run of play after bamboozling his marker, Kim Min-jae, with a clever run before latching on to the most sublime through-ball from the evergreen Toni Kroos.
Bayern turned the semi-final tie on its head with two quick and fully deserved goals, from Leroy Sane and Harry Kane, but Madrid managed to get themselves out of jail again, albeit solely because Kim handed them the keys by taking down Vinicius in the area.
Below, GOAL runs through all of the winners from a dramatic night of action at the Allianz Arena…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Vinicius Jr
All of the talk around Madrid – at least for those of an English persuasion – seems to centre around Bellingham. And for good reason. The 20-year-old has been excellent this year. But in the big European games, Vinicius has been the one to stand out.
The electric winger turned up once again here, scoring twice and posing the most apparent threat for Los Blancos. His first goal was a wonderful thing, a near-unstoppable turn of pace leaving the Bayern back-line for dead, and ensuing cool finish rounding it all off.
His second was equally important, holding his nerve from the penalty spot with 70,000 Bavarian voices willing him to miss. He has now scored in three straight Champions League semi-finals, and you’d certainly back him to find the net again in the second leg.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Jude Bellingham
Bellingham can’t play hero every game. And tonight was one of the few this season where he has been largely kept out of things. Although the Englishman registered 60 touches, not many of them were particularly effective.
The rest of his stat sheet doesn’t make for bad reading (90 percent pass completion, 100% of tackles won), but Madrid were looking for a talismanic performance here, and Bellingham didn’t quite provide it before he was substituted for the final 15 minutes after suffering from cramps.
Bellingham has been marked out of a game on a few occasions this season, and now you can add Thomas Tuchel’s set-up as another to keep him quiet.
getty imagesWINNER: Julian Nagelsmann
Julian Nagelsmann probably feels that he should have been in the Bayern dugout on Tuesday, but he still would have enjoyed what he saw at the Allianz Arena. The three best players on the pitch were all German (Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and Toni Kroos) – and all three will be in Nagelsmann's squad for Euro 2024, fitness permitting.
Sane's first goal since October is great news for the national-team boss, who would have also revelled in watching another great dribbler, Musiala, tear Lucas Vazquez to shreds during the second half.
However, the most pleasing sight from Nagelsmann's perspective was probably Kroos reminding the world that he remains one of the finest passers in the game with a wonderful assist for the opening goal. The Euros don't kick-off for another six weeks, but talking the midfielder out of his international retirement is already looking like a masterstroke.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Goalkeepers
Not a great night for the goalkeeper’s union in Germany. This wasn’t a fixture ridden with mistakes, but it was an evening in which those between the sticks failed to make much of an impact.
Manuel Neuer was the first guilty party, reacting slowly when Kroos threaded a pass into the rapid Vinicius. A quicker first step from the German shot-stopper might have prevented the Brazilian from finding the net, but he was instead exposed and left to pick the ball out of the net.
Andriy Lunin didn’t cover himself in glory, either, as the Ukrainian was easily beaten at his near post by Sane’s admittedly-powerful driven effort, and might be left to rue his failure to react quicker.
That neither goalkeeper saved a penalty is hard to criticise, but this wasn’t exactly a memorable couple of hours for two players who have consistently bailed their sides out this season.