Vinicius Junior scored twice as record winners Real Madrid came away from Bayern Munich with a 2-2 draw in their Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday.
The stalemate sets up a mouthwatering second leg in Spain next Wednesday.
Brazil’s Vinicius grabbed the leveller from the spot on 83 minutes after Harry Kane netted a penalty for Bayern on 57 minutes. Vinicius and Leroy Sané had earlier both scored against the run of play either side of the break.
Ex-Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti, sacked in 2017 after 15 months in Germany, is eyeing a fifth Champions League title as a coach and the Real boss will be the happier.
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, who leaves at the end of the season after the Bavarians missed out on the Bundesliga title for the first time in 12 years, has never lost a semi-final.
Now he faces a stern test at the Bernabeu next week if he wants to emulate his title success with Chelsea in 2021.
“We made a great start…we should have gone ahead,” Tuchel told Amazon Prime. “You make it 2-1 and then you have chances to score more. But if we win in Madrid we go to Wembley.”
Tuchel was buoyed before kick-off with creative fulcrums Jamal Musiala and Sané passed fit to play and it was Germany winger Sané who had two decent early chances while Musiala also fired over.
LaLiga leaders Madrid had forward Lucas Vazquez as an emergency right back, with Dani Carvajal suspended, while midfielder Toni Kroos faced his former club as Luka Modric began on the bench.
Who else but Kroos popped up out of the blue midway through the first half to play the perfect pass for Vinicius to score.
“There were phases in the game for both teams. The goals sort of fell when the other team was on top,” Kroos said.
Bayern’s Tuchel, widely expected to be replaced by Austria coach Ralf Rangnick from July, reacted by replacing Leon Goretzka with Raphael Guerreiro in midfield at half-time.
But Madrid not Bayern began the second half stronger, Jude Bellingham laying the ball off for Kroos to test the palms of Manuel Neuer.
With the home crowd slightly subdued, Sané cut in from the right and fired inside the near post. It was his first goal since October.
Club top scorers Kane of Bayern and Bellingham of Madrid – both England stars who hope to shine in Germany in June and July’s Euros – went head-to-head and it was Kane who threatened most.
He went close with a free-kick but saw his moment when Musiala danced into the area and Vazquez felled him with a forward’s tackle.
Kane’s superb penalty record since missing in the World Cup quarter-final continued as he struck home soon after Sané’s goal.
Chances at both ends flowed from there on before Bayern defender Kim Min Jae, playing because Matthijs de Ligt was injured, brought down Rodrygo in the box and his fellow Brazilian Vinicius did the honours.
This pairing is the most played duel in the history of the European Cup and Champions League, with 27 meetings now having taken place.
The two teams met in the semi-final in 2012, which Bayern edged on penalties, but the Spaniards triumphed in their most recent last-four clashes in 2014 and 2018.
In Wednesday’s second semi-final, 1997 winners Borussia Dortmund host Paris-Saint Germain, beaten by Bayern in the 2020 final when ex-Dortmund coach Tuchel bossed the Parisians.
Dortmund are in their first semi since 2013, a season which ended with them losing to Bayern in an all-German final at Wembley. A repeat could occur this term, but Tuchel’s men must excel in Madrid.
“It is half-time, it was a very up and own game. it was pretty decent from us today and we’ll see about next week,” Bayern midfielder Konrad Laimer said.(dpa/NAN)
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