Real Madrid find new way to produce another unthinkable Champions League comeback – The Independent

Real Madrid finds, one way or another, but inevitably, a new way to win. It was this time to feel what it must be like to play for Real Madrid. And yet, of course, even they survived that. Bayern Munich had subjected the Spanish champions to the kind of experience that Real Madrid put so many through. They dug, they frustrated, they scored a crucial goal out of nothing against a backdrop of favorable refereeing decisions.

Real Madrid then pulled out all the stops, including a supposed replacement. For someone who was supposed to be just a stopgap for Kylian Mbappe, Joselu is more of a new folk hero. He scored in the 88th and 92nd minutes to turn the most typical 1-0 defeat into an atypical victory for a team that wins more than any other.

It was as if this time they had challenged the power of the narrative itself, such is the way these games play out. They are the story. They are the history of the modern Champions League. They will now surely be targeting a 15th club and a fifth personal for Carlo Ancelotti. Borussia Dortmund will have to offer something more than Bayern Munich, but Thomas Tuchel seemed to be right.

That was the weirdness of the game. Even his most bizarre decisions, like eliminating Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala at 1-0, didn’t really matter because Madrid made them irrelevant. They seem to render any opposing force useless.

On this subject, what must Kane think? What must Tuchel be thinking?

What was Manuel Neuer thinking? He had his best game in years only to be responsible for the mistake that could define the season and more.

Until then, he had decided how the match would go.

Even though these teams have faced each other so often and offer so many of the hallmarks of the European football we know so well, there was something very different about this match.

It wasn’t just that Bayern weren’t in red, although one might have assumed they were the team in white. Real Madrid took the initiative in a way you don’t usually see in Europe. They created so many chances, but also a narrative – but not the one everyone knew.

It was almost straight away. Vinicius was punching so many holes in the Bayern Munich defense. This created the space for Rodrygo to cause constant danger. In an instant, the ball seemed to be preparing for a strike, but Matthijs de Ligt pushed it away. No matter where. They simply had to get rid of it, given that the ball had spent a lot of time around the Bayern goal.

But here, Neuer appears imperious. Although Madrid attempted to play Bayern with a throw-in, catching many of their players with a pass higher up the pitch when they thought the ball was in play, the goalkeeper was a player extremely alert. Neuer got the crucial touch on Vinicius Junior’s low shot to put it on the post, then immediately rose to block Rodrygo’s shot. There was so much more of that, as Madrid kept coming.

Neuer was supreme – but not impregnable.

The most agonizing and close was another Vinicius-Rodrygo double act. Vinicius once again took ownership of the left side of the pitch while setting his own pace, before playing another inviting ball across the box. Rodrygo, however, could only lead it wide.

As Madrid know better than anyone, you can’t miss that many chances in a major Champions League match without gradually creating more and more risk.

There was also danger on the Bayern side.

Kane had almost passed Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry on a few occasions. That threat was still there, but they couldn’t get the timing right. A threaded ball from Kane required a thunderous return from Nacho.

It looked like Bayern had denied this crucial outing when Gnabry had to leave injured. Alphonso Davies came on, a supreme player of course, but one who is usually much more powerful when running from much further back.

Bayern were pushed back that far. Rodrygo’s big chance seemed the most extreme. It wasn’t really that a goal was going to happen, but rather that something was about to happen.

Kane had the opening this time. He played a superb lofted pass which Davies was able to pounce on. The Canadian still had a lot to do, with Antonio Rudiger ahead of him. He did it spectacularly. Davies simply strode forward, then stepped to the side, before deflecting a flying shot into the far corner.

Bayern broke out. It finally seemed to be going badly for Real Madrid in this competition, everything they had achieved coming back to them. You can even see it in the way Nacho’s goal was disallowed. It was only the prelude to something bigger, even more improbable.

As the match progressed into the 88th minute, a ball was knocked to Neuer. It’s usually the kind of effort he collects easily, but there always seems to be a risk in how he gets the ball. Neuer this time overthrew him like another German goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, in the 2002 World Cup final. There was Joselu rather than Ronaldo.

Real Madrid could now celebrate him as the great Brazilian. He could go further and win a Champions League. He won this match. In the 92nd minute, as Rudiger handed the ball over, Joselu put it back.

Madrid had succeeded again, in a way they had never managed before.

This is how Madrid win, they sing in this stadium. Not like this. Of course, that makes it all the more grandiose. The same old finalists, in a new way.