Bayern Munich are through to the Champions League semi-finals after one of the more extraordinary European nights in recent memory — a 4-3 win over Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena, secured by late goals from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise.
This had everything. Three goals in the first half. A red card. A Harry Kane penalty that briefly made it look like Madrid might hold on. Then Diaz in the 82nd minute, then Olise — coolly, almost insultingly — in the 89th. When the final whistle went the Bayern players looked less like men who'd won a match and more like men who'd survived something.
The tie had been finely balanced from the first leg, Bayern taking a 2-1 lead back to Germany. Madrid were the more dangerous team for long stretches here, and there were moments — particularly around the hour mark, when they led 3-2 on aggregate — when the Allianz Arena fell genuinely quiet.
Harry Kane's night
Kane had been the one constant in a match that swung back and forth. He scored twice, including from the spot, and linked play in the way he's done all season — dropping deep, holding the ball, turning defences around. His second goal, a clinical finish from inside the area, was the kind of movement that makes you wonder how any defence is supposed to stop him when he's in this form.
He's been the best striker in the Champions League this season. That conversation is more or less settled.
What went wrong for Madrid
Madrid were done in by their own tempo. They played a good game for sixty minutes — controlling the ball, creating through Mbappe and Valverde — and then ran out of legs. The 4-3-3 that Ancelotti set up is a fearsome structure when Madrid have energy. When they don't, the spaces it creates can be fatal.
Diaz's goal came from exactly that — a mistake by a tired right back, a quick exchange, a finish that gave the keeper no chance. Bayern didn't win this game on tactics. They won it on fitness and nerve.
The semi-finals
Bayern will find out their opponents in the draw on Friday. Arsenal are through from the other side of the bracket. PSG, despite their domestic form, are hanging on. The semi-final picture is almost complete.
If Bayern get Arsenal, it's a genuine fifty-fifty. If they get PSG, most people would make Bayern favourites. Either way, this performance — this result — has announced them as serious contenders for the trophy.
Follow SOLOSCORE.COM for all Champions League coverage and semi-final updates.
0 Comments