Real Madrid win 2-1 against Bayern Munich in the semifinals first leg
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane shocked the audience as he omitted Gareth Bale, Asensio and Benzema from his starting XI to face Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. It is not the first time that he has made these kind of changes but it had become quite predictable that he usually picked a pair of Vazquez and Asensio or Benzema with Bale but today he shacked things up a bit. Luka Modric retained his place even after a poor show in the quarterfinals against Juventus and he wanted to prove himself again.
The match kicked off and Bayern were unfortunate to lose Arjen Robben to injury in just the 5th minute of the match. He was replaced by Thiago and Bayern started to dominate Madrid in possession. It was not long before Jerome Boateng pulled a hamstring when he tried to reach for a ball that was also being contested by Marcelo. He left the pitch which disheartened the Bayern Munich fans before being replaced by Sule. It was sad to lose another first team player after the absence of Alaba, Coman, Neuer, and Robben who could not finish the game. However, this did not stop them from giving their best and they managed to score the opener in the 28th minute. Marcelo had gone on the attack which failed to produce the goal and Bayern Munich capitalized on his absence. The ball found its way to James Rodriguez who is on-loan from Real Madrid and he slid a defense-splitting pass to Joshua Kimmich. The youngster pushed the ball and looked like he was going to cross for either Lewandowski or Ribery on the far corner before taking a vicious shot that flew past Navas. The Real Madrid goalkeeper should have done better after being beaten on the near post and his weak attempt saw him touch the ball before going into the net.
The game was really end to end before Vazquez crossed the ball into the box for Ronaldo. The striker looked like he was going to repeat that overhead strike against Juventus but he probably saw that the ball was far behind him so he instead left the ball for his teammate Marcelo who connect the ball on the half-volley and it went straight to the bottom right corner. 1-1 at the Allianz Arena on the 44th minute was not what they were expecting and Bayern started to push on. They saw a couple of chances missed by Lewandowski and Muller before the referee blew for half-time. Asensio came on in the second half and he combined well with Vazquez on the break before being released to chip the ball over the on-rushing goalkeeper. Asensio made it 2-1 to Real Madrid and the Los Blancos go into the second leg at home with an away goal advantage.
