Joselu was the hero tonight, as his two late goals sent Real Madrid to the UEFA Champions League final on 1 June. We look back at tonight’s semi-final second leg at Santiago Bernabéu with our Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich stats recap.
Hands up. Who honestly predicted Joselu would be the hero tonight?
The veteran striker only entered the pitch in the 81st minute, before scoring both of Real Madrid’s goals in the closing stages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Alphonso Davies’ strike 22 minutes from time had put Bayern in the driving seat to make it an all-German final at Wembley on 1 June, but Joselu’s late brace means that it’s Real Madrid who will come up against Borussia Dortmund in the 2024 UEFA Champions League final.
Just days after winning their 36th La Liga title, Real Madrid increased their unbeaten competitive run to 21 games and now have a chance to extend their own record of having won an all-time high 14 European Cup/Champions League crowns.
Real certainly did it the hard way, tonight.
A cagey first half saw Vinícius Júnior come closest to scoring in the 13th minute, but Manuel Neuer’s excellent reflexes deflected the ball onto the inside of the post, before the German goalkeeper regained his composure just two seconds later to save the follow-up from Rodrygo.
On the hour-mark, Neuer again made a crucial stop from Vinícius Júnior. The Brazilian was a constant thorn in the side of Bayern throughout the match, as he was in the first leg, scoring both of Real’s goals in the 2-2 draw last week.
Bayern Munich’s tactic was clear: soak up the pressure and try to catch Real on the counterattack. In the 68th minute, the tactic paid dividends.
After winning possession back on the edge of their own box, a long pass from Harry Kane found Davies wide on the left. The Canadian winger travelled towards the box, cut inside and fired a curling shot past Andriy Lunin to shock the Bernabéu. It was Davies’ first ever UEFA Champions League goal, in what was his 40th appearance in the competition.
Real Madrid thought they’d equalised just three minutes later via a much scrappier route. After a Real corner, the ball found the back of the net off Matthijs de Ligt, but Bayern were rescued by the VAR. Nacho was adjudged to have pushed Joshua Kimmich in the face as the ball entered the box before the Real captain guided the ball onto De Ligt’s shin.
Real were being frustrated by Bayern and Neuer until the experienced goalkeeper made an uncharacteristic mistake to gift Joselu an equaliser with just two minutes left to play.
Following a weak shot from Vinícius Júnior, the German shot-stopper spilled the ball into the feet of the 34-year-old striker, who made no mistake.
Only 164 seconds later, Joselu won the game and the tie for Real with his second goal, which was given after VAR ruled that he was onside before side-footing home from Antonio Rüdiger’s drilled cross.
Joselu now has 17 goals in all competitions for Real this season, behind only Jude Bellingham (22) and Vinícius Júnior (21). Some eyebrows were raised when he joined the Spanish giants on loan from Espanyol last summer after suffering successive La Liga relegations with them and Alavés the season before, but there are surely no doubts about his worth to Real now.
Spare a thought for Harry Kane, who is now certain to go without a trophy (again) this season, despite his incredible personal feats in his first campaign as a Bayern player. When he left the pitch on 85 minutes, Bayern were winning and looking set to compete in an all-German UCL final that they would have been favourites to win.
But tonight is Joselu’s night, not Kane’s. Three minutes of mayhem, and it’s Real who head to Wembley.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich stats for this Champions League game at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, Spain.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich Facts
- Real Madrid have now reached their 18th final in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, seven more than any other team.
- Bayern Munich have lost 11 UEFA Champions League matches against Real Madrid, the most one side has lost against another in the competition’s history.
- Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti has reached his sixth UEFA Champions League final, two more than any other manager in the history of the competition.
- Real Madrid have won four matches despite conceding the first goal in the UEFA Champions League this season, the most by a side in a single campaign since Real Madrid in 2016-17 (5) when they went on to lift the trophy.
- Real Madrid forward Joselu has scored five UEFA Champions League goals this season, with four of those coming in braces against German teams (vs 1. FC Union Berlin and Bayern Munich tonight). He’s the third player to score a brace as a sub in a semi-final, along with Georginio Wijnaldum in May 2019 (Liverpool vs Barcelona) and Rodrygo in May 2022 (Real Madrid vs Manchester City).
- Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made an error leading to an opposition goal in a UEFA Champions League game for the first time since April 2021 against PSG.
- Alphonso Davies scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for Bayern Munich – he was the first player to score his first goal in the competition in the away leg of a semi-final since Georginio Wijnaldum in May 2018 for Liverpool vs Roma.
- Toni Kroos made his 150th UEFA Champions League appearance tonight, becoming the seventh player to hit that total – three of the previous six made their 150th appearance for Real Madrid (Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo & Karim Benzema), while the only other German to do so was Thomas Müller in the first leg of this tie for Bayern Munich.
- Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham tonight made his 31st start in the UEFA Champions League, the joint most of any player before the age of 21 along with goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
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