Real Madrid put Champions League holders on the brink

Karim Benzema’s 19th-minute goal gives Real Madrid their greatest chance of securing la decima, the long-desired 10th European Cup, than at any stage since 2002. Bayern Munich face their biggest test to date, reports Richard Jolly.

Bayern Munich's Mario Mandzukic, right, vies with Real Madrid's Luka Modric during their Uefa Champions League semifinal first leg match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on April 23, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ DANI POZOShow less

Real Madrid 1 Bayern Munich 0

Real Madrid Benzema 19'

Man of the match Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)

The past has the advantage. Real Madrid are the greatest club in European Cup history, Bayern Munich the last winners of the Uefa Champions League. The clash of the superpowers is tilted the Spaniards’ way.

Karim Benzema’s 19th-minute goal gives Madrid their greatest chance of securing la decima, the long-desired 10th European Cup, than at any stage since 2002. Bayern face their biggest test to date.

If they are to become the first team in the Champions League era to retain the trophy, they will have to do it the hard way. They trailed in each leg of the quarter-final against Manchester United and went behind, too, to Madrid, at the Bernabeu. The difference was that there was no swift response this time. There were too few chances of note. They must do much better.

An entire ethos is under scrutiny after this exercise in sterile domination. Bayern’s perpetual passing resulted in too few scoring opportunities. Iker Casillas made one terrific save, from Mario Gotze, but was otherwise rarely troubled. Only Arjen Robben threatened to offer the incision required and he represents the anomaly, the individualist in a side otherwise shorn of them.

Madrid have featured their fair share of big names and big egos over the years, but this was a night for selfless sacrifice. Pepe and Sergio Ramos offered great reliability and the Madrid midfield showed the positional discipline to ensure Bayern’s probing did not result in more openings.

Bayern played like Barcelona, only without Lionel Messi. Madrid did not play like Madrid; or not the buccaneering Madrid of legend, anyway. They were canny, counter-attacking cleverly and tactically astute. They were also undeniably defensive.

Bayern brought the Barcelona ethos to the Bernabeu, Pep Guardiola’s team playing possession football in the way his former charges used to. They had 90 per cent of the ball in the opening stages, a statistic as remarkable as any in their incredible season.

But possession, famously, is only nine-tenths of the law. Madrid made the most of limited opportunities to strike first. They absorbed pressure and broke quickly. Fabio Coentrao sprung Bayern’s offside trap to meet Cristiano Ronaldo’s perfectly-weighted pass. The left-back’s cross was equally well measured and it allowed Benzema to sweep the ball in on 19 minutes.

Having pierced the Bayern defence once, Madrid should have done so again. A second left-wing cross found an unmarked forward. This time it was Ronaldo, the goal-a-game man. This time the finish was wayward, blazed over the bar, much to the Portuguese’s disbelief.

Angel di Maria, too, could have doubled the lead but lifted his shot into the stands. Yet again, the chance came from Bayern’s right flank. Guardiola’s decision to field his captain Philipp Lahm in midfield helped him dictate the game but Rafinha, preferred at full-back, struggled.

The mistake was eventually rectified when Javi Martinez replaced Rafinha but Ronaldo still had a second chance to extend Madrid’s advantage. Manuel Neuer parried a low effort, the German showing few signs of the calf injury that prompted Guardiola to name two other goalkeepers on the bench.

Neither was required. In a flurry of substitutions, Guardiola introduced both Gotze and Thomas Muller, who appealed for a penalty in stoppage time, and Carlo Ancelotti sacrificed Ronaldo to bring on Gareth Bale, who had been laid low by flu in the build-up to the game. If the two modern-day galacticos are fully fit for Tuesday’s return game, while there is a question if one goal gives them enough of a lead to protect in the Allianz Arena, Madrid have the pace on the break to worry Bayern.

It could enable them to accelerate into May’s final in Lisbon.

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