Bayern 1 – 2 Real Madrid: Así Roba el Madrid 

This article written by Pepe Salazar

Recap

In the first leg Bayern was superior. In the second leg, Madrid dominated and Neuer made crucial saves to keep a clean sheet at the Bernabeu for 88 minutes. Tactically both teams did what they wanted in both legs. Tuchel stuck to his tactics, which worked because Bayern was able to score exactly the way they wanted, in a transition by using the gaps left by Madrid when they went up front. On Madrid’s side, Ancelotti’s attacking tactics were also very successful because they created many chances and could have scored more goals.

Key moments

Every Neuer save was a key moment, but also his one mistake. Tuchel’s substitutions were questionable, but they worked up until the 88th minute. Normally against such a big team, a one goal advantage in the last 20 minutes is certainly worth defending, and with Gnabry injured, Musiala clearly tired, same as Sané, these substitutions were understandable even if we don’t like them, but the one that is unacceptable is subbing off Kane, because, after all, there’s always the chance of conceding and a team cannot give up on having such a quality striker on the pitch. I still can’t blame Tuchel because tactically he did his job and got this team to a semi-final despite injuries and squad depth issues, and was just a few minutes away of winning this match.

Madrid’s 12th man

There is no discussion, Madrid was better in the second leg, but they did get two crucial calls in their favor. Harry Kane was fouled in the box by Mendy. No foul was called, not even checked. Mendy pushed him from behind, without even getting close to the ball; the refs could have at least pretended to check it to “decide” it wasn’t a foul, but there was no VAR intervention and they only played the replay once, as if we couldn’t watch it later on slow motion.

The second very questionable and very erroneous call was the offside on De Ligt’s late goal. A few minutes earlier, when Madrid scored, they let the play run to check it afterwards. For some magical reason the same team of referees decided to use different criteria when Bayern scored, and called the offside early without letting the play run its course. By calling it early, even if we could see it wasn’t an offside on the replay, the VAR wouldn’t be able to even check it. It’s difficult not to question or be mad at these kinds of decisions. This is how you can get away with stealing goals even in VAR times … just don’t let it get to the point where VAR can intervene and you’ll be safe.

Conclusion

As I write this I’m quite angry. I’m heavily biased because this is not the first time Madrid gets calls in their favor on big games against Bayern. I can see fans blaming Kim for his mistakes in the first leg, others blaming Neuer -even if he saved the team several times today-, others blaming Tuchel for his substitutions, even if his tactics are a big part of why Bayern got to the semi-finals in the first place. Regardless of Bayern’s own mistakes, if it weren’t for the referees’ intervention, this match would have at least gone to extra time.

Madrid will most likely win their 15th UCL, out of which I can clearly remember at least 7. Of those 7, I can’t think of a single one where they got it cleanly without any controversy. Is this being a sore loser? Certainly. Is this Madrid -yet again- receiving help in key moments in big matches? This is not a judgement call, the replays are out there for all to see, sore or not.

Out in the open, VAR or no VAR, all the calls are in their favor. Great team, great players, beautiful football, Vinicius is unstoppable, but they’re a pain to watch because of how dirty their wins can be.

Así roba el Madrid.