Vinicius Junior on Tuesday scored twice for Real Madrid to draw 2-2 against Bayern Munich in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final.
Bayern dominated, but Madrid survived and the contest is still wide open ahead of the return leg in Madrid on Wednesday next week.
With the focus on England stars Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, as well as Toni Kroos’ return to his former team, Vinicius emerged as the decisive figure on a night when his bright green boots were often a blur.
Photo: AFP
The Brazil forward opened the scoring against the run of play in the 24th minute and equalized with a coolly taken penalty in the 83rd minute after Leroy Sane and Kane had scored for Bayern.
“I think it’s a good result,” said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who led Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2017. “It gives us faith and confidence for the second leg. It’s completely open.”
Kane’s goal, another penalty, was the England forward’s 43rd goal in 43 games for Bayern this season.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It felt like the goals were scored when the other team was better,” Kroos said. “We’re pretty sure that we’ll advance at home.”
Bayern had asked fans to wear red to the game and the visitors must have felt they were playing in a red cauldron as they were greeted by deafening whistles from the majority of the 75,000 people in the stadium.
Fans at Allianz Arena paid respect to deceased club great Franz Beckenbauer with a huge red-and-white choreography before kick-off.
Photo: AFP
A giant banner sent a message to the players as they were warming up: “To honor the Kaiser Franz, give everything to reach the final.”
The winners of the two-leg semi-final are to play either Borussia Dortmund or Paris Saint-Germain in the final in London on June 1.
“Real Madrid does this to teams, so we should not be too disappointed,” Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said. “I think we will be able to create chances in the Bernabeu. This is one of the most difficult places to win, yes, but it’s a challenge. That’s the beauty of it.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Bayern totally dominated the opening stages on Tuesday. Sane had an effort saved by Andriy Lunin in the first minute and the hosts went on to miss a slew of chances.
“We didn’t have enough intensity, especially in the first half,” Ancelotti said.
Nearly 20 minutes elapsed before Madrid enjoyed a period with the ball.
Then Kroos spotted Vinicius’ run and played a perfect through ball for the Brazilian to sweep the visitors’ first real chance past Manuel Neuer in the Bayern goal.
Bayern lost their early zest as the visitors saw more of the ball. Tuchel gesticulated wildly at his players to push forward, then threw his arms up in exasperation.
Kane went closest with a free-kick before the break, awarded for a foul by Nacho on Jamal Musiala, who gingerly rubbed his bandaged left leg.
The Germany forward had only just recovered from a knee issue.
Sane equalized in the 53rd minute when he ran at the Madrid defense and cut inside Ferland Mendy before firing a fierce strike just inside the near post.
Kane made it 2-1 four minutes later with a penalty awarded after Lucas Vazquez bundled over Musiala.
However, Kim Min-jae — who was beaten on Vinicius’ first goal — brought down Rodrygo for Vinicius to equalize from the spot.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS