Real Madrid showed they remain Europe’s comeback kings as Joselu’s late double rescued them from the brink of elimination to reach the Champions League final with a dramatic 2-1 second-leg win over Bayern Munich at the Bernabéuon Wednesday.
A 4-3 aggregate victorysealed Real’s progress to a remarkable sixth Champions League final in 10 years and they will bid for a record-extending 15th title against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1.
Why did Thomas Tuchel substitute Harry Kane?
As Joselu showed, bringing on the failed Stoke City striker wasn’t exactly a bad idea tonight. But while Joselu’s exploits will go down in folklore, Tuchel’s decision to replace Kane with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting might stand as the most galling moment in Bayern’s season of infamy.
Kane go the assist for Davies’ goal and had just driven into the side netting following wonderful work from Musiala, who came off for the veteran Thomas Muller. Leroy Sane, who admittedly didn’t have his best night, was also back in the sheds. It beckoned a Madrid team, who were starting to look ragged, into one last, glorious assault.
Tuchel will leave Bayern at the end of the season, assuming the club’s farce of a managerial search reaches a normal conclusion. This Champions League run has offered a reminder of what a fine tactician the former Chelsea boss is. However, his heavy notes of caution left Bayern off-key and vulnerable, perhaps indicating why his employers were happy to sever ties in the first place.
How did Real find a way to win yet again?
Madrid won a record-extending 36th La Liga title at the weekend and lifted the Supercopa de Espana (Spain’s equivalent of the Community Shield) in January — but neither of those compare to the Champions League.
Lifting the league title was an impressive achievement for a group who lost their first-choice goalkeeper and centre-back pairing to anterior cruciate ligament injuries this campaign, but there is a reason the celebrations for that trophy were postponed. Madrid measure themselves by nights like these and knew they would require all of their focus for this season-defining match against Bayern.
