There are 84 minutes on the clock at the Bernabeu but there is plenty of football still to be played. This is Real Madrid in the Champions League – it’s not over until it’s over.
And yet it is at this moment that perhaps the most perplexing substitution in this season’s Champions League takes place, setting off a chain of events that sees Bayern Munich snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, 1999-style, in 20 mad minutes.
How on earth did this happen?
85mins: There are six minutes of regular time left, as it transpires, 14 minutes of stoppage time still to be played. A total of 20 minutes and 27 seconds to go.
And it is at this point that Thomas Tuchel decides to send on Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, aged 35 and scorer of no goals since last November, to replace Harry Kane, scorer of 23 in the same timeframe.
Off, too, is Jamal Musiala, substituted for the experience of Thomas Muller (aged 34). South Korean defender Kim Min-jae, who had a shocker in the first leg, came on 10 minutes earlier.
By contrast, Real Madrid have sent on Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga, Brahim Diaz and Joselu.
It’s like in the first Austin Powers film when Robert Wagner is dealt a king when playing blackjack; he twists and says he likes to live dangerously.
Powers – aka Tuchel – has a two and a three…and sticks, saying: “I also like to live dangerously.”
Did Tuchel think it was won? He suggested in the aftermath that Kane was struggling with a back injury. Even so, having come so far and with the game in the balance, it feels peculiar.
Harry Kane is taken off by Bayern Munich at the Benabeu (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
86mins: Immediately after the changes Bayern have a chance to kill the tie and secure their place in the final. They break, three-on-one initially, before some slack passes (one goes behind Alphonso Davies) and then Aleksandar Pavlovic struggling to stay onside means they cock it up.
A Musiala or Kane through ball, anyone? Although to be fair Bayern have been messing up those break opportunities all night.
88mins: Manuel Neuer’s throw to the left flank is intercepted by Modric and Madrid have only one attacking plan in mind – find Vinicius Junior. That’s been their primary mode of attack for the entire second half and with good reason; his marker Joshua Kimmich has been ridden and flailed harder than a bucking bronco and could have PTSD by the time the night is done.
Vinicius Junior cuts inside (yep) Kimmich, his shot is poor and bounces into Neuer’s midriff but also off it… and Joselu reacts first to slam the ball home.
The place goes berserk. Joselu, who isn’t even a Real Madrid player (he is on loan from Espanyol), kisses the badge. The game restarts with the whole stadium on its feet. Momentum = accrued.
Joselu equalises for Rel (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
90mins: Bayern are rattled. Eric Dier misplaces a pass out of his own box, but makes up for it when he kicks away from Vinicius Junior as he is about to shoot and then chucks his body in the way of Diaz’s goalbound effort. It goes behind for a corner…
91mins: Modric’s corner causes carnage, mostly because Bayern have forgotten how to defend. There is ping pong in the box, they can’t clear the ball or form a defensive line, they are just bodies writhing everywhere. The ball goes out to Antonio Rudiger whose excellent cross reaches Joselu and he beats Neuer with a reflex finish. Both players are unmarked.
Drama…the flag is up. Bellingham puts his hands to his head.
92mins: VAR rules the goal was onside. Joselu sinks to his knees – he has scored with two of his first three touches of the ball – the subs race on, Neuer looks completely bereft, Tuchel doesn’t have any words, he just puts his hands against his temple, perhaps trying to erase the memory of the last four minutes, perhaps attempting to turn back time with his mind.
He semaphores with his arms but no one can hear him. The Bernabeu is going nuts.
Joselu, the 34-year-old journeyman formerly of Stoke, Hannover and Alaves, elevated to a starring role in one of the biggest matches in football.
It’s akin to Kieffer Moore joining Arsenal on loan and winning a Champions League semi-final.
Joselu celebrates his winner (David Ramos/Getty Images)
113mins: There is still time for Bayern. Choupo-Moting wins the ball back, a long ball goes into the box, Noussair Mazraoui goes up for the ball, the flag goes up (as with the Joselu winner it’s another premature flag for a tight offside even though assistant refs are told not to do this) and the referee whistles (again, even if he sees the flag, he should let play continue), Muller wins the loose ball and Matthijs de Ligt drives it into the net. Offside given, perhaps incorrectly, but the Madrid defenders stopped at the whistle, as did motionless keeper Andriy Lunin.
It’s a clear mistake from the officials. How many times do we see strikers played in on goal, clearly offside, the assistant doesn’t flag and we go through the whole rigmarole of seeing the striker score/miss before a flag is finally raised. This was the opposite and no wonder Bayern are annoyed, albeit would play have continued like it did if there was no whistle? No.
115mins: It’s over. Incredible drama, an amazing quickfire comeback double from Joselu, Madrid head to Wembley and Bayern head to the beach, their trophy-less season done.
Did the subs cost Tuchel? Not just Kane and Musiala, but sending Kim on and changing the shape?
Former Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves is spitting in the TNT studio: “To take off a guy that’s scored 44 goals, who’s the most durable player pretty much anywhere, and you bring on another striker in Choupo-Moting… maybe he wanted height for corners, I don’t know. But you cannot take him off.”
Paul Scholes questions Tuchel’s arrogance in thinking it was won.
“Kane didn’t look tired,” Scholes says. “He was still an outlet and Bayern were getting chances on the counter attack and he’s brilliant at that, as we saw with Alphonso Davies’ goal, his pass out to him.
“The biggest one for me was Kim. After last week he’s had a lot of stick, I think the last place he wanted to be tonight was on that football pitch As soon as Kim came on, the first 30 seconds he was all over the place.”
Tuchel later insists that Kane “couldn’t keep going” and that “his back froze up” but the debate rumbles on.
At the end, though, there can only be one conclusion: Madrid’s rubbish ex-Stoke striker is better than Bayern’s. This is Champions League heritage.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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