It’s advantage to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals as they came away from the Bernabéu with a 2-1 over Real Madrid in the first of two legs in what was an impressive display from the German Rekordmeister. Vincent Kompany’s side dominated the match for large portions of the match and very easily could have scored more than twice, though the same can be said of Madrid with how dangerous they consistently looked on the counter attack with Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior.
Luis Díaz’s
strike just before halftime and Harry Kane’s finish at the start of the second half was no more than Bayern deserved from their efforts, but it was Manuel Neuer who really put in a massive performance to ensure that Mbappé’s 74th minute goal was the only Madrid effort going in. The veteran keeper even came close to keeping that effort out as he parried the ball into the underside of the crossbar, but the ball did completely cross the line.
For Mbapppé, that was about the fifth time of asking that he was finally able to get one over the line as Neuer had previously denied him on numerous occasions. It came as no surprise that Neuer was awarded the Man of the Match accolade by UEFA. Even with how Bayern was for most of the match, Neuer’s key saves were the biggest reason why Real Madrid didn’t strike more than once and it was quite arguably one of the keeper’s best performances of the season.
In total, Neuer registered nine saves in the winning effort, a handful of which denied Mbappé from close range. He came up big three times within the first 20 minutes with saves to deny Mbappé and Vinícius, all of which came on the tail end of counter attackers, where Real Madrid found any and all of their joy in the first half. Neuer also registered four collections and five parried saves, none of which fell into dangerous areas begging for rebounds to be struck. Late in the second half, Neuer also came off of his line boldly twice to head clear, the first of which was a nervy moment with Alphonso Davies in retreat, both of which occured after Neuer did exceptionally well to cut down Vinicius’ angle following a botched header attempt and slip from Dayot Upamecano.
If Neuer can keep playing like he did in Madrid, there’s every reason to believe Bayern can go on and win the Champions League.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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