At the moment when this game reached its tipping point, everyone, really everyone, in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid must have been very sure that this game would not reach its tipping point. And if you had simulated that one moment 1000 times afterwards, it would have turned out at least 999 times differently than it did late that Wednesday evening.
But that’s just how it is with this unique team in this unique stadium, where, even in the attention-economic reality of modern football, moments arise season after season that are special and will remain special.
In the 88th minute of the game – the moment Real Madrid striker Vinícius Júnior next shot the ball into the penalty area – more than 75,000 people must have been very sure what would happen to the ball . Both the football fans from Madrid, for whom the Champions League season would end if the ball didn’t finally go into the goal. As well as the football fans from Munich, for whom the Champions League season would continue at Wembley Stadium in London if the ball didn’t go into the goal. The final score of the first semi-final game: Munich 2, Madrid 2. The interim score of the second semi-final game: Madrid 0, Munich 1.
Tuchel: He holds the ball “10,000 out of 10,000 times”
But why should both of them be so sure in the 88th minute of the decisive semi-final game between Madrid and Munich, between the record champions from Spain and the record champions from Germany? Because for 87 minutes they saw Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper of FC Bayern Munich, probably the best goalkeeper in the history of this sport, make one of the greatest games of his great career.
In the 13th minute of the game he spectacularly saved a shot from striker Vinícius and immediately afterwards a shot from striker Rodrygo. So it continued. In the 40th minute of the game: a shot from Vinícius. In the 59th minute: a shot from Rodrygo. In the 60th minute: a shot from Vinícius. Spectacular.
But in the 88th minute of the game, when Vinícius shot the ball into the penalty area for the next time and the ball bounced into the six-yard box, Neuer was able to hold it with his hands – just not firmly. tipping point.
Long secure Munich support: Manuel NeuerAP
Later, when Thomas Tuchel, his coach, was asked in a question and answer session that Neuer would have held the ball at least 999 times out of 1,000 in a simulation, he replied: “10,000 times out of 10,000. This is the 10,001st. Just.”
So in the 88th minute, Joselu, Real’s substitute striker, who used to play in Hoffenheim, Frankfurt and even Hanover and was now in the right place, scored the 1-1. Joselu made it 2-1 in the 91st minute. And so the Real Madrid players created the next Real Madrid moment at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.
Kroos in a semi-final for the 20th time
Following these greatest possible games, as an observer you always want to make the greatest possible deductions. And write about the big picture. About Toni Kroos, the most successful German football player of the 21st century, who played in a semi-final of the Champions League for the 20th time this evening and who could win this competition for the sixth time in three weeks. About Neuer, the most successful German soccer goalkeeper of the 21st century, who, after his skiing accident in December 2022, didn’t know whether he would even be able to play at this level again. About Tuchel, one of the most successful German football coaches of the 21st century, who reminded us in these weeks that he is of course not as small as his current club sometimes made him seem. And basically about FC Bayern Munich, the most successful German football club of the 21st century, which still doesn’t really seem to know who it is supposed to be and wants to be.
But sometimes you shouldn’t draw conclusions after such games. Sometimes you should just let a big night of football be a big night of football.
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This Wednesday in Madrid, this big football evening began with people crowding around the Santiago Bernabéu in the middle of the city and going crazy for the first time when the bus with the players snaked through the streets, escorted by police officers on horses. And this big football evening ended with people still standing there five to six hours later, waiting for the players to leave the Bernabéu.
In the meantime, you could see why Bayern had a real chance of winning the Champions League this season: because they can counter. Like in the 68th minute, when Alphonso Davies (whom Tuchel substituted for the injured Serge Gnabry in the 26th minute and started as a winger for the first time) dribbled into the penalty area and shot the ball into the goal with his weak right foot.
But then came the 88th minute and then came the moment when everything tipped over.
Neuer “expected the ball differently”
“I feel bad,” said Neuer as he later stood in the interview zone and explained the situation from his perspective. He “expected the ball differently,” but then it “jumped up.” And then you should talk about the next scene.
Later in the game there was another moment that was important and became even more important after the game. In stoppage time, Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt shot the ball into the goal for Bayern. But when de Ligt shot, Szymon Marciniak, the referee from Poland, had already stopped the game with a whistle because his assistant had raised the flag. Offside. But because it was very close, it quickly became clear that the assistant should not have raised the flag, Marciniak should not have blown the whistle and the VAR should have checked everything. He is said to have seen this himself later.
One could now (and one should) discuss the referee who sensationally led the game in the more than 90 minutes beforehand. However, it should also be mentioned in this discussion that, if one is honest, it was more than just a wrong referee decision that kept Bayern missing from the final.
When the game was finally over, when Tuchel and his players were already off the pitch, when Real’s coach Carlo Ancelotti and his players were walking through the stadium, the people who were still in the stadium with them sang one of their favorite songs, like this goes: “Así, así, así gana el Madrí!” So, so, so Madrid wins.
And no matter how much you as an observer tried to do justice to this big football game with language on that late Wednesday evening, no matter how much you wanted to find words for the special thing that was and for the special thing that will remain, you still had to accept it : With one sentence of this song that the people sang in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, everything was actually said.