Real Madrid snatch Champions League victory as late drama denies Harry Kane's Bayern Munich
REAL MADRID 2-1 BAYERN MUNICH (4-3 on agg): Joselu's late brace sends Los Blancos into the final after Alphonso Davies' goal looked to have made it an all-German affair
As the celebrations took the roof from the Bernabeu Stadium, Jude Bellingham sought out Harry Kane to console him.
And after the most unlikely Real Madrid fightback - even by their standards - the England captain needed some consoling. Kane’s assist for Alphonso Davies' stunning strike looked to have set Bayern up for a trip to Wembley.
But dramatic late goals from substitute Joselu - yes, the former Stoke City man - gave Real the most unlikely of victories and Bellingham the chance to win the Champions League in his first season with Real. And it had all looked so good for Bayern and Kane.
Not for the first time in this Champions League week, the goal-frame was a German team’s friend, Manuel Neuer’s right-hand post repelling an early Vinicius Junior strike. And that flurry in the Bayern box typified a gung-ho, if slapdash, start by both teams, Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane both flying behind enemy lines only to fluff their attempted assists.
Their failure to find Kane with what should have been relatively straightforward passes sowed seeds of frustration for the England skipper. Kane took out that frustration on a volley from the edge of the box that was diverted by Andriy Lunin but that was his only threatening contribution to an entertainingly ragged first half.
In truth, it was not a contest of the highest quality, even allowing for understandable nerves. But it was a contest that Bayern and Kane grew into as anxiety took something of a grip on the Bernabeu.
There was even some exasperation with Bellingham’s input, which, in the first hour, was notable only for trying to deceive the Polish referee and for a couple of half-decent tackles. But if someone was going to provide the spark to reignite the home crowd, it was Vinicius Junior, by far the most dangerous player on the pitch.
He scared Bayern and supercharged the Real crowd - but not his team. And it was no major shock when Bayern took the lead through a stunning Davies strike.
And considering he has previously struggled to find a team-mate with a pass, it was a nice assist from Kane, spraying the ball wide to the Bayern substitute. But the goal belonged solely to Davies, who cut inside and fired a humdinger of a right-footed strike into the top corner.
The Bernabeu was stunned into silence before, soon after, being sent into rapture when a scramble from a corner ended up in Neuer’s net but a VAR check showed that Nacho had pushed Kimmich over beforehand. A big screen replay warned Real of what was to come and Kane - one of the first to protest - knew it.
What he could not have known is that Neuer - Neuer, of all people - would gift Real a lifeline just three minutes from time. It was the keeper’s bad throw-out that gave Real easy possession and it was the keeper’s botched attempt to save a Vinicius Junior shot that provided Joselu with the most dramatic of tap-in equalisers.
And if you thought that was dramatic, how about the winner in added time? They say VAR takes the drama out of the game. Really?
The entire stadium seemed to accept the assistant referee’s decision to flag when Joselu struck again but a lengthy VAR check confirmed the assistant referee was wrong … and Real and Bellingham were heading to Wembley.
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