It was perceived as the night that a notable young talent could steal the spotlight from Harry Kane and that is precisely what happened. But, let’s not forget, Jude Bellingham is not the only shooting star in the Real Madrid galaxy.
It was a night in which he directed and danced, but he did so under the broad shadow of Vinicius Junior, who closed a wonderful Champions League semi-final with goals that at one moment raised the prospect of a Real victory and in the next rescued a tie. .
Before we get into the finer details, this was a perfect tie. In truth, that’s how it was. And for a moment in the second half it seemed certain that the game would be decided in Bayern’s favor with a Kane penalty that would make it 2-1.
We had already seen many ripples by that point, first with the sheer splendor of Vinicius Junior’s first goal against a wave of Bayern pressure, and then through the comeback sparked by Leroy Sané’s equalizer after the break.
With Real clearly still nervous, they earned a Bayern penalty and Kane nailed his shot, but only after Bellingham joined him on the spot in what was a truly curious sight.
Vinicius Jr scored both goals for Real Madrid in the victory over Bayern Munich.
The Brazilian converted the tie with a penalty seven minutes from time.
And he was in charge of celebrating it with the traveling Madrid fans at the Allianz Arena
Harry Kane put Bayern ahead from the penalty spot after a foul on Jamal Musiala
We may have to wait before we know exactly what was whispered in Kane’s ear in those tense moments, which unfolded while the England captain stood with the ball in his hands – and possibly his fate too.
But the symbolism of what followed was gloriously clear: the old man won’t hand that scepter to the new one just yet.
If that had been the winning goal, it would have been a good script. A nice line in the narrative game. But Real Madrid are nothing but fools to escape a tight jam and so there was more, and that’s where Vinicius returned to the scene for the 83rd minute penalty that ended the chaos with the score tied.
More generally, that will presumably mean an advantage for Real Madrid heading into the second leg at the Bernabéu. In that sense, Bellingham’s prospects of winning the Champions League at 20 are still alive and well.
But much of the credit belongs to Bayern; Even with their European pedigree, their fall from grace in domestic affairs meant they were major losers here.
And that’s before we consider the wider mess surrounding Thomas Tuchel’s future. He is a dead man walking in his position, that is already confirmed, so how nice that he was able to make those who decided to announce the upcoming end of his term in February swallow some judgments.
Bayern were excellent here, with a performance built on a crowded midfield that often seemed to contain Kane, so deep was their deployment, and it generated a wave of noise inside the Allianz Arena.
Kane’s penalty was his 43rd goal in an extraordinary debut season in Germany
Leroy Sané scored the magnificent equalizer for Bayern at the beginning of the second half.
The former Manchester City winger skipped two players before beating Andriy Lunin.
Bellingham’s first test came early. In fact, he experienced it more than an hour before kickoff, when he maintained his pregame ritual of taking a solo walk around the field.
With several thousand Bayern fans already seated, there was initially a collective silence, as if to question the nerve of it all, before the booing began. When he came, he came in bursts.
That meant a couple of things. One was Bellingham’s composure in any setting, which is no longer a secret, and the other was the frenetic atmosphere of this wonderful place, which will never cease to amaze.
The relief for Ancelotti was that he effectively had all the power to play in that environment, with only Dani Carvajal’s suspension separating Real from their strongest available eleven.
As for Tuchel, pre-match uncertainties included doubts over Sane, Jamal Musiala, Matthijs de Ligt, Konrad Laimer and Dayot Upamecano. In the end, only De Ligt did not pass the final physical controls.
If there was a surprise from Bayern’s perspective, it was in who wasn’t there to see them: Gareth Southgate. Presumably we’re at the stage of Eric Dier’s resurgence where he deserves a personal visit and that was underlined here.
The former Spurs player’s first contribution was to casually withstand pressure from Bellingham and the second was to confront him with a challenge: he exemplified the brute force with which Bayern began this 27th edition of a fascinating competition.
Toni Kroos was at his best on his return to Munich and scored the first goal.
But Jude Bellingham had an unusually quiet game after a tremendous season.
The England star was virtually ineffective and was substituted in the second half.
But it was also about finesse and opportunity. A lot of. The first and best came within 40 seconds and via a quick pass from Kane to Sane, which foreshadowed a supply pattern that would be repeated for much of the half and served to give the latter a clear line of sight towards Andriy Lunin.
He shot directly at the goalkeeper and Tuchel became enraged in one of those arm flaps. Perhaps a premonition of what it could cost.
After a further eight minutes, Kane had also made a comfortable save from Lunin and Sane skied from a similar position, before Kane hit a powerful swing from near midfield. His shot fell a little late to become an instant classic, but at the same time that attempt captured Bayern’s plan to hit Real early and hard.
Before long, Real Madrid had faced no less than six good or decent chances in exchange for a missed corner. Such was their inability to advance Bayern’s midfield, Bellingham sank deeper and deeper in search of faster balls, but nothing was working. Everything was being lost in the red swamp.
And then Real had their chance. It was just a glimmer of opportunity. A sniff. But that’s what they do.
We should start with Vinicius Jr: he was masterful in his role, both in the subtle step towards the halfway line that dragged Kim Min-jae with him and then in his sprint back into the empty space before achieving the best finish. And yet, the glory, the art, was found by Toni Kroos in the direct pass. With no room for error, the precision and weight of his pass between Kim and Dier was simply wonderful.
From there, Bayern regained some pressure and went close with a free kick from Kane, but in a film that Manchester City will recognize, they left the field behind. Could you turn it around?
The forecast at the beginning of the second half was still gloomy: a goal from Kroos would have made it 2-0 if it had not been for the eternal reflexes of Manuel Neuer. But how quickly it changed. Just as the initial 45 had done in the opposite direction.
The draw leaves the semi-final perfectly prepared for next week’s second leg
Carlo Ancelotti (right) will be a little happier than Thomas Tuchel (left) after the result
The leveler came from Sane and was a beauty, mainly because of how he eluded Ferland Mendy before entering the traffic of a loaded area. Shooting just in time, the ball crashed low inside the near post.
Chaos ensued and only grew louder two minutes later when former England youth team player and now German international Jamal Musiala was brought down by Lucas Vázquez. Penalty fee. Kane went up, Bellingham went with him and sent his message the other way with a low drive.
There would be more opportunities, both for Kane and, more clearly, for Vinicius Júnior, who was brilliantly stopped by Neuer. Bayern was close. Kane was close. But then Kim passed over Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior appeared. He shot down the middle and that was it. Crazy and brilliant.