Football: Champions League: Drama out: FC Bayern can’t even console the final at home

The FC Bayern Munich players and their coach didn’t feel like having good food, relaxed conversations and selfies with sponsors two hours after midnight. They fulfilled this social obligation dutifully, but after the semi-final second leg at Real Madrid it was clear that their dream of a repeat of an all-German Champions League final in London, like in 2013, had been shattered in a dramatic final phase.

Even the well-intentioned words of their CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen didn’t help much. He remembered the final at home in 2012 and a message in the team chat from Thomas Müller the day after. He wrote: “Cheer up, boys. What happened yesterday hurts extremely, but next year we will fight back,” said Dreesen, setting the direction: the 2025 final, which will take place again in Munich. “That’s our big goal now.”

There was still a lot to process, and perhaps some people actually started with pasta paella, steak and cauliflower cream. But it is more likely that this 2-1 defeat at the Bernabéu Stadium on Wednesday evening will have an impact for a few days. And it will come up again on June 1st, when Real can fight for the top spot against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium.

Also with Thomas Tuchel, who will then no longer be the Munich coach. After the last Bundesliga games on Sunday against Wolfsburg and next Saturday in Hoffenheim, the FC Bayern chapter is over for him. What remains of him? After all, with him the Munich team managed their first semi-final participation in the premier class since 2020. But as passionate as they were internationally, he was unable to motivate them in the Bundesliga. Conveying to the players the goal of defending second place there will probably be difficult given the Madrid defeat.

This game in the modernized football temple of the Madrilenians fit in with Munich’s season, in which a lot had gone wrong, but it still looked like a happy ending. Real Madrid were unable to capitalize on good chances; The Spanish champions repeatedly failed because of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, the post or their own inaccuracy. Bayern then had the skill and efficiency to score a goal from their few opportunities.

However, the Bernabéu drama began with Alphonso Davies’ opening goal in the 68th minute. Harry Kane had to leave the field injured, as did Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sané. Serge Gnabry had already been hit before that. The changes, Tuchel later complained, were not tactical decisions. “We were never able to change the game the way we wanted, we were just reacting the whole time.” These injury problems, which threw many a good coaching idea over the top, continued at least through the second half of the season.

Then Neuer, of all people, made a mistake. “Tragic for Manu, who was previously world class,” said sports director Max Eberl. Real’s Joselu took the chance to equalize. In the 88th minute. Two minutes later he scores again. This final phase was reminiscent of Bayern’s last-minute defeat in the 1999 Champions League final against Manchester United. Only this time it wasn’t over after 2-1. Matthijs de Ligt scored a goal in stoppage time. A few seconds earlier, the referee had blown the whistle for the action. His assistant had raised the flag prematurely, even though the supposed offside position was barely visible to the naked eye. However, a check by the video assistant could not be carried out because the whistle was too early. Eberl described this situation as “extremely strange and dubious.”

Referee Szymon Marciniak later apologized for the mistake. Tuchel found this difficult to accept. “This is not the moment for apologies, this is not the moment for breaking the rules.” Thomas Müller also said: “The sting runs deep.” Since 2012, however, no one has known better than himself: this sting can be removed again.

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