Karim Benzema's 19th minute goal proved to be all the scoring between these two European giants who appear to be staging another continental classic with a full 90 minutes to go next Tuesday in Munich's Allianz Arena.
As reported on Radio Marca hours before kickoff, Gareth Bale was not deemed fit to start, however, much to the relief of Real fans, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had recuperated from injury and was reinserted into the starting XI.
Ronaldo was joined by Benzema up front while Isco took Bale's place.
In midfield it was the trusted trio of Ángel di María, Luka Modric and Xabi Alonso while in the back legendary goalkeeper Iker Casillas was shielded by a back four of Dani Carvajal, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Fabio Coentrão, who started in front of the recovering Marcelo.
Los Blancos failed to even get a whiff of the ball in the first 15 minutes as Bayern absolutely dominated possession and were camped out in Real's half. But the Bavarians failed to capitalize on the advantage and Real would make them pay in the 19th minute when Benzema slammed in the opener.
It all started on Ronaldo's first significant touch of the match as he fed a ball through to countryman Coentrão on the left and the defender's ball across to Benzema could not have been played better, giving the Frenchman nearly the entire mouth of the goal to fire in past helpless Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to make it 1-0.
The goal injected Ancelotti's men with confidence and raised the already high decibel level inside the Bernabéu to another few levels. It could have easily been 2-0 to Real in the 26th minute but Ronaldo wasted a golden opportunity to score after Modric did well to play a ball out to Benzema on the left who then fed a ball back in the middle for the Ballon d'Or winner, however Ronaldo's shot badly missed the target.
Bayern began to reassert their dominance in possession for the remainder of the half, yet it was still Real who came closest to scoring the second goal of the game when a rare run into the Bayern half in the 41st minute saw a ball played across that flew over everyone and landed at the feet of Di María who was all alone at the back post, but the Argentine winger rushed his shot and sent it to the heavens rather than on target.
Real continued to frustrate Bayern's high-octane attack into the second half as the German champions either had their shots blocked or played out for corner kicks which never resulted in any type of danger. Bayern's transition game lacked pace and always allowed Real to get back in defense and set their defensive shape. It was nearly all harmless possession from Pep Guardiola's squad.
Ancelotti made his first two changes in the 74th minute when Pepe was forced to leave with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Raphael Varane. Also exiting was Ronaldo, who appeared less than 100% during the match, and in his place stepped in Copa del Rey hero Bale for the final 15 minutes.
Bayern's best chances in the second stanza came in the final 10 minutes when Thomas Mueller's deflected left-footer went just wide to the right of Casillas in the 81st and then three minutes later the Spanish No.1 made a massive save from close range on a Mario Götze shot. Bayern then had a late shout for a penalty in stoppage time when Mueller claimed he was fouled by Alonso inside the six-yard box, but English referee
Howard Webb ruled that the former Liverpool man made enough contact with the ball, much to the dismay of the German forward.
In the end, Los Blancos did what few teams have done during the season in keeping a clean sheet against the Champions League holders and now Ancelotti knows his team can take another step forward to 'La Décima' with a result next week in Germany.
No comments:
Post a Comment