“This is why you guys come to these games,” Vincent Kompany had said, and here especially. For the quality, the chaos, and the goals, the noise, the drama and the history that invades every moment, even when it seems to be finally left behind. Another wild night at the Santiago Bernabéu seemed to have set up for another barely believable finish, another of those crazy comebacks, but in the end Bayern Munich held on, setting up what is sure to be a special second leg instead.
Goals from Luis Díaz and Harry Kane had given Bayern a 2-0 lead here and at that stage there was an authority about them that had seemed incontestable, but Madrid it seemed always have a response and a Kylian Mbappé goal brought about a revival, a rebellion that threatened to secure a draw. But there was Bayern’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to keep them at bay, just.
Bayern had gone at Madrid from the very start, even if that meant risking being exposed. Asked about the threat from Vinícius and Mbappé, Kompany had invited his enquirer to contemplate the threat posed by his players instead. Madrid had no choice but to do so. The first shot came after 43 seconds and Konrad Laimer could have scored from it.
Michael Olise could have scored from the second after four minutes, his free-kick clipping off the wall and just over. And from the third, Andriy Lunin just managed to tip a corner over from just beneath the bar. It had been deliberate too from Joshua Kimmich.
