Real Madrid 2 – 2 Bayern Munich: match recap from the Champions League
By Alex McVey
Real Madrid fought off a rampant Bayern Munich to a 2-2 draw. With that Madrid are through to their third consecutive Champions League final.
Lineups
There were always going to be big question marks about Zinedine Zidane’s possible lineup for the semifinal second leg. Given the injuries to Carvajal and Isco, choices had to be made about which players would fill in the gaps.
Zidane opted to go for a pretty familiar 4-4-2 formation, but with Asensio spearheading the diamond rather than Isco, and Vazquez filling in for Carvajal at the right back. Once again, Gareth Bale was left on the bench for a major European night. It’s certainly getting harder to see Bale as part of the future of this Madrid team.
Another wrinkle in Zidane’s selection for the semifinal was the choice to field Mateo Kovacic over Casemiro in the defensive midfielder position. Casemiro was poor in the first half of the first leg against Bayern. Kovacic’s dribbling skills and press resistance add a bit of extra fluidity to this midfield, even though he sacrifices some of the defensive stability that Casemiro brought to the table.