Real Madrid 4 – 2 Bayern Munich: Three Takeaways From The Champions League Battle in Madrid

Real Madrid were able to come back to beat a ten-man Bayern Munich squad 4-2 in the Santiago Bernabéu, 6-3 on aggregate, to earn a place in the Champions League semifinals for the seventh consecutive year. Alex McVey takes a look at the match with three quick takeaways.

Another Comeback Victory for Zidane

Following Real’s last minute winner against Sporting Gijón at the weekend, I wrote about the winning mentality that Zinedine Zidane has hardwired into this Real Madrid squad. Comeback seems to be the name of the game for Madrid, and the Champions League was no different for the eleven time champions.

It’s starting to seem that Real Madrid play better when they’ve got a deficit to overturn. Real had played a defensively strong first half, and were perhaps a bit unlucky to concede a soft penalty against Robben for Bayern’s first goal.

That brought Madrid to life, as they began pressing Bayern intensely, eventually producing a goal for Cristiano Ronaldo. Madrid were not content to simply come back from one goal, and just like at the weekend against Gijón, quickly conceded another.

This time, it was a bizarre miscommunication between Ramos, Navas, and Nacho that caused a Sergio Ramos own goal to roll into the back of Madrid’s net.

90 minutes ended with the game at 1-2, requiring extra-time to separate them. At this point, Bayern Munich had been playing down a man and were starting to look gassed. Madrid found an extra gear through the fresh legs of Marco Asensio and Lucas Vázquez, pouring on attack after attack, until Cristiano finally found the back of the net to put Madrid level, and ahead on aggregate.

Real Madrid didn’t look back, as Marcelo drove through Bayern’s back line to put Real up for a third. Not content to be left out of the action, Asensio drove towards goal around a tuckered Mats Hummels and fired Madrid up to a deceptive 4-2 scoreline.

Zidane’s Madrid have an incredible propensity to come back from behind to secure victory, and have now done so twice against Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich. The student has bested the master, this time on the back of two exciting comeback victories.