Madrid: Casillas; Dani Carvajal, Pepe (Varane 72‘), Sergio Ramos, Coentrao; Modric, Xabi Alonso, Isco (Illarramendi 81’); Di María, Benzema, Ronaldo (Bale 73’). 4-3-3.
Bayern: Neuer; Rafinha (Javi Martínez 65‘), Boateng, Dante, Alaba; Lahm, Schweinsteiger (Müller 73’), Kroos; Ribéry (Götze 71’), Mandzukic, Robben. 4-3-3.
Goals:
1-0. 19. Benzema. Got on the end of Coentrao cross to turn ball in on far post.
The long awaited “Decima” may be a little bit closer after Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. The defending champions got off to an electrifying start, and it looked as if they were going to over-run Ancelotti’s side in the opening minutes. However with just under twenty minutes gone Pepe blocked a shot from Kroos, and on the resulting counter-attack Coentrao crossed in for Benzema to open the scoring. Ronaldo and Di María both wasted good chances to add to the lead before the break, and Neuer had to be at his best to turn a shot from Ronaldo around the post after the restart. But Casillas had to be on his toes to save from Ribèry and Robben, and Kroos fired a shot over the bar as Guardiola’s side continued to have the better of possession. With twenty minutes to go Ancelotti replaced Ronaldo (still recovering from a hamstring injury) with Bale (still suffering from a bout of flu), and the Welsh winger caused a couple of problems with his incisive runs. Müller fired a shot just wide though and then had a late penalty claim turned down, and Casillas made the save of the night to deny Götze the equalizer. But the locals had their clean sheet, and they go in to next week’s second leg with a slight edge over their rivals. That “all-Madrid” final is still on the cards!