To some extent, this summed up the situation perfectly for Spain’s media, which is always highly critical of its domestic teams unless they win. Bayern did indeed dominate the match for long stretches, putting in a selfless performance across all areas of the team and could even have won by a bigger margin. If not, indeed, should have. However, in some situations, the FCB simply had that bit of luck on their side, which is undoubtedly needed at this level.
The Bestia Negria has therefore returned with an upgrade and now seems to have fortune on its side once again, which is likely to cause their rivals in the race for the Champions League trophy some serious concern. A fact that the Munich side has not necessarily been blessed with in the recent past, whenever it came down to the wire in the Champions League – particularly against Real in the 2010s.
There is no denying that coach Alvaro Arbeloa’s side created several top-class chances against “perhaps the best team in Europe at the moment” in both the first and second halves. The expected goals figure of 1.97 speaks volumes in this regard. However, Manuel Neuer thwarted any hopes of a major comeback with a performance reminiscent of his finest days and, after the final whistle, rightly received praise from all quarters.
Nevertheless, the captain was also fortunate on two occasions that his two slip-ups in the first half went unpunished. As risk-taking as ever during transitions, the 40-year-old first made amends for a misplaced clearance himself, before shortly afterwards hurling a throw-in onto an opponent’s back, with the ball subsequently failing to be controlled by Real’s exceptional players. Shortly before the end, one of his risky forays put the Munich defence under pressure once again. Furthermore, Dayot Upamecano fell back into old habits and made a hair-raising error of timing, after which Vinicius Junior could only hit the side netting of the empty goal.