By FRANCO PANIZO
This was supposed to be a contest. It was anything but that.
Real Madrid reached the UEFA Champions League final on Tuesday by handing reigning champions Bayern Munich a thorough and surprising 4-0 victory at Allianz Arena. Madrid won the series on aggregate, 5-0, to reach the May 24 finale in Lisbon, where they will take on the winner of Wednesday’s other semifinals series between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid quickly jumped out in front in the second leg against a Bayern Munich team in search of a goal. Sergio Ramos scored twice inside of 20 minutes to give the Spanish giants a three-goal lead in the series, and that was compounded by Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the first of his two goals on a lightning-quick counterattack in the 34th minute.
In need of four goals to advance, Pep Guardiola’s Bayern dominated possession but were unable to break down Real Madrid’s defense. The German club constantly found itself in the final third, but lacked creativity and sharpness in a performance that is probably its worst of the season.
Ronaldo delivered one more blow to Bayern and their dejected fans in attendance in the second half, hitting a low free kick that made its way under a jumping wall before finding the back of the net.
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What did you think of Real Madrid’s 4-0 second leg win over Bayern Munich? Shocked by the lack of competitiveness in the decisive match? How likely is it that Real Madrid goes on to win the final?
Share your thoughts below.
But Bayern play the beautiful game, beautiful tikitaka soccer and RM just park the bus in a boring ugly way. Bay earn had 69% possession and thus deserved to win because they are more beautiful. Anybody can park 2 busses. How boring. What an awful result.
/sarcasm
Barf. Nothing against Real Madrid, but this means the final will be:
RM vs Atletico; i.e., something we’ve already seen this season…and every season.
or
RM vs Chelsea; I shouldn’t have to explain why I don’t look forward to watching a Mourinho-led side.
(for the record, an Atletico vs a healthy Dortmund would have been the greatest final in recent years.)
How so? I think Atletico beats them pretty easily.
No one ever beats Dortmund easily. Oh you might win by a lot but they are chasing and breathing down your neck the whole time. That team runs and attacks too much to call it easy.
You mean similar to how real plays, but with lesser players?
While there are similarities, Real and Dortmund play very differently. With Dortmund, the entire team is on the move all the time. Real defends and counters, Dortmund plays “fast-break tiki-taka.”
Nothing Lesser about many of those guys. Break fast tikia taka is a good way to describe it. Some of the 1 touch passes they do are mental. This is 2012 but still.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh4OSBOUzqQ
“fast-break tiki-taka” not “break-fast tiki-taka.” This is something Dortmund do anytime with a soccer ball, not just in the morning with soft-boiled eggs and leberwurst.
😉
Jay: because then we’d get to see if you are wrong or right.
Dortmund? They didn’t even make the semis. The best part about a final is that the teams earned their places there.
Note that I wrote: “a healthy Dortmund.”
And that is hardly the “best part about a final.” Some finals are boring because the teams that “earned” it are boring.
Champion League finals are usually boring because the teams are often closely matched and no one wants to lose them
you have just given the definition of a good game. Two closely matched teams that are desperate to win at all costs.
Nah, there’s a sad difference between wanting to win and not wanting to lose.
While I agree Dortmund play well as a group they don’t have the defense of Atletico not do they have the attacking talent. People seem to forget Atletico is leading La Liga. I think Dortmund is a gritty tough team but they just don’t have Atletico’s talent.
Can you point to anyone on this thread who seems to have forgotten that Atletico leads La Liga?
Is a soccer blog of course I know that it was a just a tongue and cheek comment. But we will agree to disagree I just feel La Liga is better then the Bundisliga depth wise. So Atletico has proven and been tested more in a harder league although Dortmund has also been impressive with their injuries. In the end is not going happen but I will agree with you that that game would be better then any final we can get now.
Fair enough. I actually agree with everything you just wrote, except that I take no stand on whether Bundes versus La is the tougher Liga overall. Certainly Atletico has had a tougher battle for the top spot. After the top 3-4 in each league, I’m not sure how quickly the talent level drops off:
Augsburg v Valencia
Hoffenheim v Rayo
etc.
Dortmund don’t have the Talent?
Marco Reus, Gundogan, Subotić, Şahin, Mkhitaryan and Lewandowski don’t count as Talented?
This isn’t Real we are talking about. Atletico just went and picked up a the Wolfburg cast off Diego because they needed bodies.
We know Atletico are good but its a team effort just like Dortmund.
Real Vs. Atletico UCL Final. Biggest derby of all time?
They did play in the European cup final, ’59 I think. Real won on replay. I’d love to see the best defense of Chelsea against the best offense of Madrid, personally.
Real’s defense looked pretty spectacular today as well. It seemed like they could have played 200+ minutes without Bayern ever scoring
Also please no boring chelsea with Mourinho and his tactics.
Its effective, but I agree very boring. I;m really hoping for Athletico tomorrow.
Shocked with the score but in reality Bayern has been on cruise control towards the end of the season after wrapping up the Bundesliga. Looks like it definitely hurt them. They havent been the same since. Madrid currently is being battled tested in La Liga. Also Bayern couldn’t handle Real’s counter with Bale and Ronaldo.
When RM signed Bale I had a feeling this could happen. Must be nearly impossible to play high pressure against them and not risk giving up goals. Madrid defense deserves a lot of credit as well – played an excellent game. Actually the whole RM team is naturally geared to win games like this one – games against teams who push a lot of players into attack.
How will Chelsea or AMadrid handle them, tactically speaking? I think the key is in midfield, and Chelsea has a great one. Still, I have to go with RM in the final.
This is what happens when you buy all the good players in your league. Real and Barca have had each other, at least, and sometimes Atletico, to keep them honest and provide competition. Bayern is so dominant in a league they weaken by being the biggest spenders that it’s impossible to keep their foot on the gas for ten months.
Wow
Lede doesn’t make sense. You hand someone a defeat, not a victory, unless the other team won, which in this case they didn’t.
Yeah, what? Madrid handed Bayern a victory? …
A Real-Atletico final would be one of the greatest finals before it’s even played.
Also–so many red cards.
What about Jose taking on his former team in the Champions League final one year after leaving?
come on MY LITTLE PONY!
You have a point, but there is something special about the Madrid rival. Plus, teams are close by so traveling won’t be a problem. This way both teams will be at their best. And in they are both battling for the la liga title and you have an instant classic with red cards for everyone.
Not with the way Chelsea plays – for one of the greatest club teams in the world to play like they do….. boring.
Give me the Madrid derby a much better game.
In contrast a Real v Chelsea will the most boring game that can ever be played
Boom.