En route to Lisbon to conquer La Decima, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid handed Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich one of their most devastating defeats of the 21st century. The 4-0 scoreline is widely attributed to Pep Guardiola’s overthinking and last-minute change in tactics in the years that followed. However, the reality is that Real Madrid simply executed their transition and set-piece plan brutally well to demolish the reigning European champions at that time.
16% of the field-tilt and 49 passes in
the final third, compared to Bayern’s 266 – is all Madrid needed to stun a team that was considered to be unbeatable. Madrid had also defeated them 1-0 a week earlier in the first leg, though.
After 15 minutes, Sergio Ramos met Luka Modric’s corner in the middle of the box and headed it in to open the scoring. Four minutes later, Pepe won Ángel Di María’s free kick in the air and knocked it on for Ramos, who headed in to make it 2-0. On 88 minutes, Cristiano Ronaldo scored with his right foot directly from a free kick 23 metres out to make it 4-0. The three chances were worth 0.29 npxG between them.
Real Madrid had eight attacking restarts – five free kicks and three corners – and six of them ended in a shot. All but one of the eight were taken with Real Madrid ahead. Ronaldo took three of them, more than anyone else. Set pieces supplied 0.49 of their 1.52 npxG.
Four of the shots came straight off the delivery and two from the second phase, after the first contact. Three of their five deliveries went into the middle of the box. Bayern got to one of Real Madrid’s five contested deliveries first, and Real Madrid won the only aerial duel at the first contact.
Real Madrid won the tie against Bayern 5-0 on aggregate and defeated Atletico Madrid 4-1 (AET) in the final to clinch the title in Lisbon after a 12-year wait.
