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.

Real Madrid Had a Little Help from the Refs

The reason why I am usually hesitant to complain about refereeing decisions is that as often as bad decisions go against you, they also can go for you. That’s what happened against Bayern, as some questionable refereeing gave Madrid a few huge advantages in this game.

I don’t think there was anything untoward going on, but the referee happened to see things in Real Madrid’s favor in a few crucial instants, and against Bayern in a few others.

The standout example is Casemiro. While the Brazilian had a stand-out performance, bossing Bayern’s attackers throughout the match, there is absolutely no reason he should have played a full 120 minutes.

While his penalty on Robben was perhaps a bit unlucky, he had a number of hard fouls go un-noticed or un-punished. Immediately after Casemiro escaped a second yellow for a sloppy challenge, Arturo Vidal earned his second for an innocuous challenge that was probably ultimately a clean tackle.

Having an extra man allowed Madrid to boss Bayern Munich more than they would have otherwise in this match (much like the first leg), leading to the flattering scoreline we see at the end of 120 minutes.

Real Madrid were also lucky that the flag stayed down for Cristiano’s equalizer and go-ahead goals, which were both certainly offside.

People might point to Lewandowski’s offside positioning before the Ramos own goal, or a hard foul or two from Vidal earlier that went unpunished as evidence that the refereeing was perhaps less skewed than it seems, but I think on balance, Bayern have to feel hard done by the referee.

Fortunately for Los Blancos, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Madrid have, and will continue, to be on the wrong side of plenty of bad refereeing decisions. Madrid nevertheless put in an excellent performance, and have nothing to be ashamed of.

Luck went Zidane’s way tonight, but any good coach will tell you that winning championships involves a fair bit of luck.

Cristiano Ronaldo Comes Up Big

Real Madrid’s talisman notched a hat trick to send Real Madrid through to the semifinals. Ronaldo shows no signs of slowing down as he ages, and has been turning in huge performances in crucial games this year.

There has always been something of a myth surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo that he is not a big game player; he is merely a flat track bully who drives up his statistics by beating up on smaller clubs.

Real Madrid fans who have watched Ronaldo perform over the years have known that this claim was always ludicrous, but Ronaldo is starting to make it painfully obvious to even the haters that he knows how to show up when it counts. As The Real Champs’ Ben Sundock pointed out recently, it’s time for the haters to shut up about Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo put five past Bayern Munich over the course of two legs, in the quarter-finals of European competition. That is quite the opposite of a flat-track bully.

Zidane has done well to manage Ronaldo’s minutes this season. He has rested him for crucial games, and largely kept him out of the early stages of the Copa del Rey. Ronaldo has looked sharp for the entirety of 2017, which will be huge for Madrid going forward if Gareth Bale continues to be sidelines with injury.

Ronaldo’s hat trick tonight adds another page to the legend of Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid.