April 30, (THEWILL) – A scintillating first leg of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) semi-final between heavyweights, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, ended 2-2, as a late Vinícius Júnior penalty ensured that Los Blancos marked the 25th head-to-head in the knockout rounds of Europe’s supreme club competition with their eighth consecutive meeting unbeaten.
Two of Europe’s largest clubs battling for a UCL final spot promised to be a spectacle, and that was the case from the off. Leroy Sané hadn’t scored since October, but looked determined to give the vociferous Allianz Arena crowd reason to celebrate early on, as the winger latched onto Harry Kane’s pass, but was denied by Andriy Lunin. He then set up Kane for another effort that was saved, before venomously firing over the crossbar. An opener was all the hosts were missing in a quarter-hour full of encouraging signs with Jamal Musiala also missing opportunities.
They soon found themselves behind, though, as Real Madrid eventually got on the ball and pounced in the 24th minute. Vinícius latched onto Toni Kroos’ perfectly weighted through ball and coolly slid his finish past an uncharacteristically hesitant Manuel Neuer for the Brazilian’s 20th goal across all competitions this term.
Sané struck with the long-awaited goal he craved shortly after the restart, cutting inside Ferland Mendy and smashing a ferocious strike into the bottom corner. Sensationally, Musiala then lured Lucas Vázquez into a sloppy tackle for a penalty that Kane clinically converted to complete a four-minute turnaround.
Los Blancos had struggled in the second half, but Kim Min-jae offered the visitors a route back into the game as he clumsily brought Rodrygo down, and Vinícius calmly struck from the penalty spot to leave the tie perfectly poised heading into the second leg, while also extending Real Madrid’s unbeaten run in the UCL into its 11th match.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
