Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

REAL MADRID

Real Madrid storm into Champions League final

The 2014 Champions League final came one step closer to being an all-Madrid affair when Real Madrid notched up a historic 4-0 away win against title holders Bayern Munich in Tuesday's semi-final in Bavaria.

Published: 30 April 2014 09:14 CEST
Real Madrid storm into Champions League final
Real Madrid's players celebrate winning 0-4 the UEFA Champions League second-leg semi-final football match FC Bayern Munich in Munich. Photo: Christof Stache/AFP

The win also saw Real Madrid reach their first Champions League final for 12 years.

Having won last week's first leg 1-0 in Madrid, Real won the semi-final 5-0 on aggregate as Pep Guardiola's Bayern suffered their heaviest home defeat in European competition.

SEE ALSO: 'Worst thrashing ever; Spanish press gloats over Madrid win 

Bayern had previously never lost at home by more than two goals in Europe as the Bavarian giants saw their dreams of reaching a fourth Champions League final in five years crushed.

"We have witnessed a debacle, we didn't put enough passion into it," said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

"We have to keep our nerve and stay rational."

Real are now one game away from 'La Decima' – their 10th European title – and will face either neighbours Atletico Madrid or Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in the May 24 final in Lisbon.

Real centre-back Sergio Ramos produced two early bullet headers to dismiss Bayern's dreams of becoming the first team to defend the Champions League title.

World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo then made it 3-0 at the break before the Real superstar netted his 49th goal of the season with a free-kick just before the final whistle.

Having now netted 16 times in this season's Champions League, Ronaldo set a new record for the most goals in a single European campaign, bettering the previous mark of 14 set by Barcelona's Lionel Messi and ex-AC Milan forward Jose Altafini.

SEE ALSO: Police arrest man who threw banana at Dani Alves on hate charges

The only downside to Real's stunning win in Germany was the loss of Xabi Alonso for the Lisbon final after he picked up his third booking of the campaign for a first-half foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

But there was no denying an historic night for Real, especially for coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has now never lost to Bayern in eight matches, six times with former club AC Milan and twice with Madrid, and who is through to his fourth Champions League final as a coach, equalling the record.

Devastating spell

There was a minute's silence before kick-off for former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, who died on Friday at the age of 45, and Vujadin Boskov, the former Real coach who passed away on Sunday aged 82.

The Munich crowd soon saw their dreams of a repeat of last season's treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup swept away as Real floored the Bavarians in a devastating first-half spell.

Real needed just 16 minutes to take the lead at the Allianz Arena as Ramos powered home his first header from Luka Modric's corner to silence the home support.

It was the start of a miserable five minutes for Bayern as centre-back Dante was shown a yellow card for clumsily scything down Ronaldo just before Ramos struck again.

When Angel Di Maria swung in a free-kick, centre-back Pepe flicked it on for Ramos to head home his second goal in just four minutes to leave Bayern reeling.

Real then compounded Bayern's misery as Di Maria played Karim Benzema into space and the Frenchman found Bale, who accelerated away.

His pass was drilled home by Ronaldo on 34 minutes, the Portuguese forward breaking the record for most Champions League goals in a campaign, to leave the hosts 3-0 down at the break.

Guardiola responded at half-time by swapping Mario Mandzukic for Javi Martinez, abandoning his 4-2-3-1 formation for a 4-2-4 system and pushing Schweinsteiger further forward with Thomas Mueller.

Despite Bayern's best efforts, Real's defence held firm and then Ronaldo put the final nail in the holders' coffin with his second of the game when his free-kick went under the Munich wall on 90 minutes.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FOOTBALL

Black Lives Matter: Marcelo ‘takes the knee’ to celebrate Real Madrid win

Marcelo celebrated by taking a knee as Real Madrid returned from three months away following the coronavirus suspension by beating Eibar 3-1 on Sunday.

Published: 15 June 2020 09:42 CEST
Black Lives Matter: Marcelo 'takes the knee' to celebrate Real Madrid win
Real Madrid's Brazilian defender Marcelo kneels on the field to celebrate his goal. Photo: AFP

After scoring Madrid's third goal in the 37th minute, Marcelo dropped onto his left knee and raised his clinched right fist into the air, apparently in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Madrid's win may have come at a cost as Eden Hazard and Sergio Ramos were both substituted early in the second half and were seen with ice packs strapped to them while sitting in the stands.

Hazard was making his first start since February and his ice pack appeared to be around his troublesome right ankle, which he injured in November and February, before undergoing surgery in March.

“We knew Eden would lack a bit of rhythm playing the whole game,” coach Zinedine Zidane said.

“He played well for an hour, he took a knock which was a scare but at half-time he said he was fine. He is happy with what he has done and we are happy with him.”

Madrid's win means they reduce the gap behind league leaders Barcelona back to two points after the Catalans thrashed Real Mallorca 4-0 on Saturday.    

Madrid struck in the fourth minute after a superb strike from Toni Kroos before Ramos tucked away Hazard's pass on the counter-attack.    

Eibar pulled one back in the second half through Pedro Bigas but never found the second to make Madrid nervous, despite a brief spell of pressure.    

Before going off, Hazard was busy, the Belgian involved in all three goals.    

His weaving run through midfield led to Kroos' shot and it was his effort that was cleared out to Marcelo, who drove into the corner.    

After a miserable opening season in Spain, it was a bright start for Hazard, who could now redeem himself by playing a crucial role in the run-in, if he can stay injury-free.

Perhaps even more impressive though was Karim Benzema, who linked up brilliantly with Hazard and was unfortunate not to get the goal an excellent all-round performance deserved.

Gareth Bale started on the bench but came on and could start against Valencia on Thursday.

Zidane is likely to rotate heavily over the next few weeks, with the games coming thick and fast.

New surroundings

Madrid's coach will also have been pleased to get off to a positive start in their new training ground home, which was the 100th different stadium to be used in La Liga.

They will be playing all their remaining home matches at the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium to allow renovation work at the Santiago Bernabeu to continue this summer.

“We know the situation, it's all a bit strange,” said Zidane. “But the players are all champions and we have to get our heads around it.”    

Barca had needed less than two minutes to score against Mallorca and Madrid were only slightly later, as Hazard broke through Eibar's midfield and Casemiro set Benzema free.

The ball was cleared to Kroos on the edge of the area, who struck first time, sidefooting perfectly into the far top right-hand corner.   

Ramos doubled their advantage after starting, and finishing, a ruthless counter-attack. In between, Benzema and Hazard were involved again, the former picking out the latter, who generously gave Ramos an open goal.

Marcelo put Eibar all but out of sight before half-time as Benzema played through for Hazard and his shot spilled out to Marcelo to lash into the corner.

Eibar were better after the break as Edu Exposito forced a full-stretch save from Thibaut Courtois and then Sergi Enrich headed against the crossbar. 

Bigas did score after diverting in Pedro Leon's shot but Madrid held on.    

Earlier, Diego Costa scored his first goal since October but Atletico Madrid missed the chance to move into La Liga's top four by drawing 1-1 away at Athletic Bilbao.

Costa celebrated by holding up the shirt of Virgina Torrecilla, a player from Atletico's women's team, who underwent surgery on a brain tumour last month.

His equaliser came two minutes after the excellent Iker Muniain had given Bilbao the lead towards the end of the first half and neither side could find a winner at the empty San Mames, with Atletico defender Santiago Arias missing the best chance late on.

Diego Simeone's side stay sixth, level on points with Getafe and one behind Real Sociedad, who were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Osasuna.

SHOW COMMENTS