Remarkable Real comeback in classic semi-final clash

Real Madrid won 4-3 on aggregate

- MIGUEL DELANEY

Real Madrid          2

Bayern Munich      1

Real Madrid, somehow, but inevitably, find a new way to win. It was starting to feel what it must be like to play themselves. And yet, of course, even they came through that. Bayern Munich had subjected the Spanish champions to the sort of experience Real Madrid have done to so many. They dug in, they frustrated, they scored a crucial goal out of nothing amid favourable refereeing decisions.

Real Madrid then threw it all in, including a supposed stand-in. For someone that was supposed to be a mere stop-gap for Kylian Mbappe, Joselu is instead a new folk hero. He scored in the 88th and 92nd minutes to somehow turn the most typical 1-0 defeat into a victory that was atypical for a team that wins more than any other.

It was like this time they had defied the power of narrative itself, such is the way these games go. They are the narrative. They are the story of the modern Champions League. They will now surely be eyeing up a club 15th and a personal fifth for Carlo Ancelotti. Borussia Dortmund are going to have to come up with something more than Bayern Munich, but Thomas Tuchel had seemed to get it right.

This was the oddity of the game. Even his most bizarre decisions, such as taking off Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala at 10 up, didn’t really matter because Madrid rendered it irrelevant. They seem to render any opposing force irrelevant.

On that, what must Kane be thinking? What must Tuchel be thinking? He will fume after that controversial late offside call that went against Bayern.