There are 84 minutes left at the Bernabeu but there is still plenty of football to be played. It’s Real Madrid in the Champions League – it ain’t over till it’s over.
And yet, that’s when perhaps the most confusing substitution of this season’s Champions League takes place, setting off a chain of events that sees Bayern Munich snatch defeat from the jaws of the victory, 1999 style, in 20 crazy minutes.
How the hell did this happen?
GO FURTHER
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85 minutes: There are six minutes of regulation time remaining, as it turns out, 14 minutes of stoppage time still to play. There are a total of 20 minutes and 27 seconds left.
And that’s when Thomas Tuchel decided to call on Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, 35 years old and scorer of no goals since last November, to replace Harry Kane, scorer of 23 goals in the same period of time. .
Jamal Musiala is also absent, replaced by the experience of Thomas Muller (34 years old). South Korean defender Kim Min-jae, who caused a shock in the first leg, came on 10 minutes earlier.
On the other hand, Real Madrid sent Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga, Brahim Diaz and Joselu.
It’s like in the first Austin Powers movie, where Robert Wagner receives a king while playing blackjack; he twists and says he likes to live dangerously.
Powers – aka Tuchel – has a two and a three… and sticks by saying: “I also like to live dangerously. »
Did Tuchel think it was won? He later suggested Kane was suffering from a back injury. Even so, having come such a long way and with the game on the line, it seems strange.
86 minutes: Immediately after the changes, Bayern have a chance to kill the tie and secure their place in the final. They break, three against one at the start, before a couple of slow passes (one goes behind Alphonso Davies), then Aleksandar Pavlovic struggling to stay in play means they get angry.
A through ball from Musiala or Kane, what do you think? But to be fair, Bayern wasted those break chances all night long.
88 minutes: Manuel Neuer’s throw on the left flank is intercepted by Modric and Madrid has only one offensive plan in mind: find Vinicius Junior. This was their main mode of attack throughout the second half and for good reason; his scorer Joshua Kimmich was ridden and beaten harder than a fighting bronco and might be suffering from PTSD by the end of the night.
Vinicius Junior cuts inside (yes) Kimmich, his shot is poor and bounces into Neuer’s stomach but also out of it… and Joselu reacts first to send the ball home.
The place is going crazy. Joselu, who is not even a Real Madrid player (he is on loan from Espanyol), kisses the badge. The match resumes with the entire stadium standing. Momentum = accumulated.
90 minutes: Bayern are shaken. Eric Dier misplaces a pass outside his own box, but makes up for it when he moves away from Vinicius Junior as he’s about to shoot, then throws his body into the path of Diaz’s effort. He goes behind for a corner…
91 minutes: Modric’s corner causes carnage, mainly because Bayern have forgotten how to defend. There’s ping-pong in the box, they can’t clear the ball or form a defensive line, it’s just bodies writhing everywhere. The ball fell to Antonio Rudiger whose excellent cross reached Joselu and he beat Neuer with a reflex finish. Both players are unmarked.
Drama… the flag is raised. Bellingham puts his hands on his head.
92 minutes: VAR declares the goal was in play. Joselu falls to his knees – he scored with two of his first three touches of the ball – the substitutes’ race continues, Neuer looks completely helpless, Tuchel has no words, he just puts his hands to his temple, maybe trying to erase the memory of the last four minutes, maybe trying to go back in time with his mind.
He semaphores with his arms but no one hears him. The Bernabeu is going crazy.
Joselu, the 34-year-old former Stoke, Hannover and Alaves sideman, has risen to star in one of football’s biggest matches.
This looks like Kieffer Moore joining Arsenal on loan and winning a Champions League semi-final.
113 minutes: There is still time for Bayern. Choupo-Moting recovers the ball, a long ball enters the box, Noussair Mazraoui goes up for the ball, the flag goes up (as with Joselu’s winner, it’s another premature flag for a tight offside even though the assistant referees are asked not to do this) and the referee blows the whistle (again, even if he sees the flag he must let the play continue), Muller collects the loose ball and Matthijs de Ligt sends into the net. Offside was given, perhaps wrongly, but the Madrid defenders stopped at the whistle, as did the immobile goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.
This is clearly a mistake on the part of the officials. How often do we see attackers play at goal, clearly offside, the assistant doesn’t signal and we go through all the chaos of seeing the attacker score/miss before a flag is finally raised. It was the opposite and it’s no wonder Bayern were annoyed, but would the game have continued as it did if there hadn’t been a whistle? No.
GO FURTHER
Explaining De Ligt’s controversial non-goal as Real Madrid v Bayern Munich ends in ‘a betrayal’
115 minutes: It’s finish. Incredible drama, an incredible quick comeback double from Joselu, Madrid head to Wembley and Bayern head to the beach, their trophyless season over.
Did the substitutes cost Tuchel? Not just Kane and Musiala, but sending Kim in and shapeshifting?
Former Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves spits in the TNT studio: “To take out a guy who scored 44 goals, who is the most durable player in the world, and bring in another striker in Choupo-Moting …maybe he wanted height in the corners, I don’t know but you can’t take it away.
Paul Scholes questions Tuchel’s arrogance in thinking it was a given.
“Kane didn’t look tired,” Scholes said. “He was always an outlet and Bayern were creating chances on the counter-attack and he is brilliant in that area, as we saw with Alphonso Davies’ goal, his pass to him.
“The most important thing for me was Kim. After last week he got a lot of stick, I think the last place he wanted to be tonight was on that football field. As soon as Kim came on, the first 30 seconds, he was everywhere.
Tuchel later insisted that Kane “couldn’t continue” and that “his back froze up”, but the debate continues.
Ultimately, however, there can only be one conclusion: Stoke’s former Madrid striker is better than Bayern’s. This is the legacy of the Champions League.
(Top photos: Getty Images)