By JOHN BOSCHINI
Bayern Munich are one step closer to playing a Champions League Final in their home stadium as they dispatched Real Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Mario Gomez scored from very close range off a Philipp Lahm cross in the 89th minute to break a 1-1 deadlock. It was Gomez's 12th goal in his last 10 European games as Bayern Munich dominated the latter stages of both halves.
Franck Ribery fired the home side ahead early in the first half with a well-taken shot after a failed clearance from Madrid off a corner kick. Mesut Ozil equalized for Madrid early in the second half as the visitors broke on the counter attack.
Despite the loss, Madrid are still in a solid position heading home considering Ozil's away goal. They have yet to lose at the Bernabeu in the Champions League this season and have scored at least three goals in the five games played there.
The first 15 minutes were all Madrid as the visitors dominated possession. A through-ball from Ozil split the Bayern defense and gave Karim Benzema a clear shot on goal from the edge of the box, but Manuel Neuer tipped the shot just over the bar in the eighth minute. Madrid controlled possession but were punished for an inability to clear a corner in the 17th minute.
Ribery, who had a penalty shout waved off after a clear dive moments earlier, controlled Madrid's short clearance and rifled the shot from 12 yards out through a crowd of players and into the net. Bayern managed to take hold of the game for the rest of the first half, with Bastian Schweinsteiger forcing a stellar save from Iker Casillas just before halftime.
The second half was more even as both teams had opportunities. Arjen Robben rifled over the bar just after the restart, and Benzema's wicked shot from 16 yards out was blocked. Madrid capitalized on a rare mistake by Bayern's defense and equalized with a swift counter-attack. Ronaldo found himself in on goal but made had his shot from 10 yards out parried by Neuer. Benzema collected the rebound, found Ronaldo on the back post, and the Portugese international fired a pass across goal where Ozil was waiting to poke it home from a yard out.
Bayern should have taken the lead with 20 minutes to go when Sergio Ramos failed to clear a cross. The ball fell to Gomez, but his shot from a six yards out sailed over the bar. Bayern continued to press forward, and Gomez finally redeemed himself with a goal in the dying stages. Lahm blew past Fabio Coentrao on the right flank and crossed to Gomez, who made good on his chance.
The game ended on a sour note when Marcelo lunged in for an ugly challenge on Thomas Mueller. Referee Howard Webb decided to only show a yellow to the Brazilian. Players from both sides converged on midfield and pushing and shoving ensued but no further discipline was levied.
——————-
What did you think of today's game? Impressed with Bayern's win? Can Real Madrid overturn the one-goal deficit at home? Who do you see advancing to the final?
Share your thoughts below.
Coentrao was awful and Kaka should have come on instead of Granero. i understand why he did it, but since Marcelo came it, he should have brought in Kaka.
in any event, Bayern failed to dominate at home and barely eeked out a win. i don’t see them advancing with only a 2-1 result. that away goal was huge.
but we never know!
also, ribery is a little girl.
you are both insane, look at the stats. first, Bayern:
Shots – 15(4)
Poss. – 55%
Corners – 6
Saves – 5
Fouls – 20
Madrid:
Shots – 15(6)
Poss. – 45%
Corners – 4
Saves – 2
Fouls – 14
so, no, Bayern was NOT dominate at all. it was a very even game that should have ended in a tie.
dude, they only scored two goals. one off a botched clearance and the other in the dying minutes. madrid will outscore bayern at home and will advance. a 2-1 result was not what bayern needed.
K Bone – it resulted from a corner, but the corner was cleared (terribly) and it fell to Ribery. Ribery shot it and goal.
according to the announcers, it should have been offsides because the guy (alaba or gustavo) was standing RIGHT in front of casillas, clearly obstructing his view. he ended up jumping barley over the ball, so he did not touch it, but the rule states if a player in an offside position affects the play, they should be called. so, in the announcer’s mind, his shielding casillas’ view from an offside position should have led to a whistle. and frankly, i agree. the guy was standing directly in front of casillas.
Player in the off-side position did not touch the ball, call on the pitch was correct.
What I don’t understand is how a coach as great as Mourinho didn’t substitute Coentrao. How did he not see him as a liability? Maybe he assumed Marcelo would just get a red card if he played the whole game, which he should have gotten anyway…
Wasn’t their first goal from a corner kick? How can that be offside?
HALA MADRID, we can easily go past Bayern in Madrid
Yea Roberto,
We figured you loved diving. Not a huge grammar fan though, eh?
Ciao.
Troll
You forgot maschareno
Agreed.
American soccer fans can only talk about diving and cheating….idiots….boring… I love diving..!!! ciao
Real’s defense look like it can easily keep Bayern out of the net? Not to me…
Madrid LB just needs to stay on his feet and not dive in, as time expires. I’m sure Jose is not taking him to dinner.
Real just needs a 1-0 win. They got the away goal.
Exactly my thought. As dominant as Bayern were, they still only squeaked by 2-1 at home. I think it’ll be awfully tough for them to advance now. Should be a great game, though!
Bayern outplayed Madrid in a BIG way. Should have been 2-0.
Thank you for saying this. I defy anyone to refute this. That is all.
That’s what I was going to say. It seems a bit silly to fault Bayern for flopping and in the same sentence cheer on Barca. They’re an amazing team, but one thing they are really amazing at is rolling around on the ground after no contact. I love Xavi but Iniesta drives me bonkers.
Wait, is this serious?
You’re rooting for a team with Alves, Busquets, Pedro, and Alexis Sanchez because you can’t stand diving?
Real advances after crushing Bayern at Bernabeu.
man, i’m with you on that. Ribery especially today was diving like crazy and faking pain.
As a Madrid fan, have a bad feeling after that game, that maybe the pressure is getting to Madrid and they are choking. Even though Bayern’s first goal should have never counted because of offsides, Madrid did not look good at all. Offensively there was no punch, don’t remember a decent cross the whole match but only a bunch of bad passes. And the Madrid goal was sort of lucky. Bayern easily could have won 3-0 or even 4-0. With Barcelona awaiting on Saturday followed by Bayern next Wednesday, there could be two more painful losses for Madrid. I guess the silver lining of that would be that if Madrid blows the league title and also gets ousted by Bayern, then maybe Mourinho would get axed.
I wish I could root for Bayern. But Ribery and Robben flop and whine too much.
Go Barca.
Bayern is going all the way.