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MOTD- Real Madrid 1-0 Bayern Munich

By on April 23, 2014

It wasn’t supposed to be this though for Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola’s side won the German Bundesliga with eight full games to spare, beat Manchester City in their Champions League group this season, and then breezed past Arsenal before coming out on top over Manchester City. Not only that, but at the same stage of the Champions League in which they face Real Madrid this season, the semifinals, they demolished Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate over two legs last campaign. Barcelona – one of only two teams who currently sit above Real in La Liga, and the only team that have stopped them from dominating Spain’s top division in recent years. So, while it would have been implausible to underestimate Real coming into the first leg of their tie, Bayern undoubtedly would have assumed they wouldn’t have as much trouble breaking down Carlo Ancelotti’s side then they did. And boy did the German champions struggle at it.

Bayern saw nearly 75% of possession, but Real still managed to restrict them to just four shots on target, one less then they struck themselves with less than a third of the ball.  In fact, Madrid actually saw more golden chances to seal their upper hand in the tie than Bayern did.  So, as expected when you give the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale so many chances, Real were the ones to take a goal back to Germany, not the favorites to win the tie.

Yet it wasn’t as if Bayern didn’t create any chances at all.  Just twelve minutes into the match which Guardiola’s side started completely in control, Arjen Robben flashed a wicked effort inches wide of the left-hand post on the turn.  However, while Bayern continued to dominate, Real struck in a mastermind counter-attack.  Ronaldo slipped Fábio Coentrão in down the left side of their visitor’s box seventeen minutes in with a brilliant defense-splitting through ball, and Ronaldo’s fellow Portugal international cut the ball back across goal, past the diving fingertips of Manuel Neuer, and into the path of Karim Bemzema, who tapped the ball into the back of the open net at the far post.  The Santiago Bernabéu, which had been deadly quiet just seconds before, broke into a frenzy.

Ancelotti’s men also broke alive, and Ronaldo should have doubled the home side’s lead moments later via a bullet header straight at Neuer before he wasted another wonderful opportunity by blasted Benzema’s squared ball from the left miles over the crossbar with no one other than Neuer to beat ten yards out from goal.

However, their brief surge of momentum was quickly settled by Bayern, who worked their way back into the match and had Real pinned back in their defensive third by the thirty-fifth minute.  Philipp Lahm came close for the reigning European champions when he poked Rafinha’s through ball down the left of goal just wide, but Real still looked dangerous on the break themselves.  It was on the break when Angel Di Maria left Real’s next chance begging, as he sliced Isco’s deep cross from the left over the crossbar at the far post.  Even as the match turned onto the second half the home side broke at every opportunity, and that nearly rewarded them with another goal when Ronaldo snapped a low effort across goal from a tight angle on the right, which Neuer just managed to palm away.  In the sixty-seventh minute Neuer once again denied Ronaldo a goal with a sharp dive to his right to push away the forward’s low snapshot, and finally Bayern looked to be wearing Real down.  And while their one big chance to find an equalizer did come, it was blown.

Javi Martinez cut a cross into the feet of Mario Götze from the right, and despite the winger cracking a fierce volley towards goal from only ten-or-so yards out, Casillas managed to deflect the shot wide.  It was Bayern’s one big chance to salvage something from the first leg, and although they didn’t take it tonight, they will surely be given more opportunities of equal status in the second leg.
Man of the Match: Fábio Coentrao

 

 

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.