Spain came out on top, but it wasn’t a great night for Germany at another superb festival of Champions League football.
Two of the biggest Euro giants flexed their muscles in Munich, and it was Real Madrid fans who were smiling as they took the mantle of betting websites’ favourites for the trophy.
Bayern Munich 1-2 Real Madrid
Pre-match betting odds suggested Bayern, if anyone, would edge this one and the home team struck, midway through the first half, when Arturo Vidal headed home powerfully from an Arjen Robben corner. But then on the stroke of half time the game turned on a moment of real drama. The ball appeared to hit Dani Carvajal’s shoulder but the ref pointed to the spot, only for Vidal to smash the penalty over the bar.
Rejuvenated Real hit back early in the second half, and who else but Cristiano Ronaldo was on the spot to convert a low cross from Carvajal. As the temperature rose Bayern’s Javi Martinez lost his head, and his place on the pitch, when he lunged into Ronaldo. And then on 77 minutes the beautiful one was on hand again to poke home the 100th European goal of his career.
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Leicester City
Madrid’s other giant beat the English Champions who failed to score a crucial away goal. It was all Atletico in the opening exchanges but the goal came with more than a touch of fortune. Antoine Griezmann showed an electric turn of pace to be upended by Marc Albrighton just outside the box. But the ref, here too, was keen to see a goal and Griezmann gratefully slotted the penalty home.
Fernando Torres presented a moment of hilarity on the hour, slipping when he was about to put the hosts two up. But there was little to laugh about for the Foxes.
Borussia Dortmund 2-3 AS Monaco
A goal in either half from Kylian Mbappe pushed Monaco on to a very handy first leg lead at the Signal Iduna Park. Dortmund wasn’t at the races in the first half as the French hurried into a 2-0 lead, helped by Sven Bender heading into his own goal. But second half strikes by Ousmane Dembélé and Shinji Kagawa hauled Dortmund back into the tie as the Germans showed great character.
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