Real Madrid moves into the final of the Champions League in extremis after beating Bayern Munich 2-1. What increasingly seems like a natural law of football had its big bang ten years ago.
Joselu scores two goals late against Bayern – it’s not the first time Real Madrid have turned a game around late.
Imago
It was a shimmering panopticon at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu after a memorable Champions League confrontation. The images on the giant video screens showed Real Madrid’s unlikely hero Joselu – a 34-year-old football globetrotter. Joselu played for relegated Espanyol Barcelona last season. On Wednesday he scored Real’s two late goals to win 2-1 against Bayern Munich, which meant Madrid reached the final.
Bayern, on the other hand, struggled with a barely explainable mistake by their goalie Manuel Neuer, who apparently succumbed to the mysticism of this stadium before the 1-1 score and let a harmless shot from Vinícius Júnior ricochet. The Munich team also struggled with the referee, who blew the whistle too early for what was supposed to be offside when the score was 2-2 in the eleventh minute of stoppage time. “This is against every rule,” said coach Thomas Tuchel. Tuchel became loud as if he were speaking to a naughty school class: “It wouldn’t have happened like that on the other side.”
Against all rules? At least Real is breaking all conventions in the Champions League. The Madrilenians looked exhausted against Bayern and thought they had been eliminated 0-1 in the 88th minute. But Real turned the game around – like so often in recent years. “It happened again,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti succinctly. Or, to put it with five-time Champions League winner Luka Modric: “This film looks familiar.”
Even the most experienced tacticians are at a loss
Real will play against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1st for their 15th title in the premier class, while their nearest rivals AC Milan have seven wins. It would be Real’s sixth triumph in the past decade. For the opponents, this dominance must feel as if it can only be endured with fatalism. Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester City, now Bayern: “They did to us what they do to everyone,” said Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel after the 2-2 draw in the first leg.
Back then, Real succeeded with minimalism, and in the second leg again with magic. Even the most experienced tacticians are perplexed by the force of the royal myth of success, which seems like an iron law of nature and began ten years ago.
There are moments that not only decide games, but also change history. The moment came for Real Madrid in 2014. In the first all-city final of the Champions League, the 93rd minute was running and the big Real was down 0-1 against the supposedly smaller Atlético. Not only was there a risk of local ridicule – but also a loser complex after Real hadn’t won the Champions League since 2002.
But then Atlético missed a corner, Modric pushed it to the penalty point, and defender Sergio Ramos headed in from the run. Real were back to themselves, extra time was just a formality, they won 4-1.
Ramos’ strike gave Real confidence for a decade
This first title since 2002 was so impactful that an original song was composed for it. It is celebrated as a fixed rite before every game at the Bernabéu and also afterwards on occasions such as Wednesday against Bayern. Ramos’ header in the 93rd minute was so significant that Carlo Ancelotti – also Real’s coach at the time – said last season: “If I’m here today, it’s because of Ramos.” The liberation was so epochal that it gave the club unshakable self-confidence. Since then, Real has repeatedly forced match luck.
In the 2016 final, Real defeated city rivals Atlético again. In 2017, Bayern felt “shitty” by the referee (Karl-Heinz-Rummenigge) in the quarter-finals. In 2018, Juventus Turin left the Bernabéu with similar frustration, before Liverpool’s star player Mohamed Salah was injured in the final after an attack by Ramos – Real triumphed.
Added to this were the incredible comebacks of 2022. PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City: Real was inferior in terms of play in every knockout round and yet found a way to win. The eyewitnesses were astonished to refer the experience to the realm of the supernatural.
Real is creating a change without losing success
From an earthly perspective, the winning mentality has been passed on from one generation to the next. On Wednesday against Bayern there was only one player left in the starting lineup, Dani Carvajal, who had already done so in the 2014 final. Of the figureheads of the hat trick between 2014 and 2016, only the substituted Toni Kroos and the substitute Modric are still there. Even compared to the last title in 2022, the team has changed with new leaders like Federico Valverde and Vinícius.
Real is making a change without losing success – one of the most difficult tasks, as you can see from the lurching FC Bayern. In contrast to Munich, the change at Real only includes the team. Coach Ancelotti has been in office for almost three years and, according to his contract, at least until 2026. After reaching the final, he praised President Florentino Pérez effusively as “captain of this boat”.
The powerful building contractor Pérez has learned from the turbulent “Galactic” era at the beginning of the millennium or the no less grueling tenure of coach José Mourinho in 2010. Pérez made calm the club’s top priority. On this basis, Real cultivates a team spirit that makes unlikely heroes like Joselu possible. And the miracle produced in series.
Ten years have passed since that Ramos header. “We have had an impressive era,” says Carvajal, the veteran.