Champions League: Bayern’s lack of ruthlessness costs them dearly against Real Madrid

Real Madrid came away from the Allianz Arena with an opportunistic and gritty 2-1 win in their quest for a third straight Champions League title.

For Bayern Munich, it was a night of near misses and frustration with their trademark German efficiency absent in the first leg. Clearly the better of the two teams, the German champions were not cut-throat enough as the 12-time European champions defended with their back to the walls for most of the match.

It wasn’t a case of Madrid’s European pedigree as much as it was a lack of cutting edge from Die Roten. This was in sharp contrast to Liverpool’s urge to finish the tie in the first leg, and the Reds will look at this match smacking their lips, as both of these sides looked under-par in displays that were far from clinical.

Bayern are hobbling through to the end of the season

Without four of their regular starting line-up, Bayern started with a eleven that would have otherwise featured the likes of Manuel Neuer, Arturo Vidal and Kingsley Coman. David Alaba, picking up a thigh injury in the win over Bayer Leverkusen, was the biggest miss of the night as Jupp Heynckes was forced to play Rafinha in his absence.

The Austrian has grown to become one of the world’s best left-backs in his time at Bayern and with Sven Ulreich, Javi Martinez and Arjen Robben there to replace the other injured personnel, his was the biggest miss felt by the home team.

Robben went down as early as the the eighth minute and immediately signalled that his night was over, only to be replaced by Thiago Alcantara. Jerome Boateng then pulled up a few minutes before Bayern’s goal, as Niklas Sule was introduced in his place.

This means that Bayern will be travelling to Madrid without as many as six of their first-teamers, not a good sign for a team hoping to come back from behind on foreign soil. Heynckes will be sweating on the fitness of his players, and Joachim Low wouldn’t have had a good night either, watching Boateng substituted.

Ronaldo and Lewandowski kept quiet

Prior to the match, the 72-year-old Heynckes had talked about his hitman, the Pole Robert Lewandowski as a difficult man to stop, in the backdrop of the chatter surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo in the lead-up to the game.

A poor game was typified by the two goal machines going missing in Munich, both disappointing in different ways. While Ronaldo was on the periphery of the game, Lewandowski was in the thick of the action but couldn’t force his way through.

It started brightly for the latter, as he teed up Thomas Muller in the first minute, the German unable to convert. Lewandowski had four shots but missed at least two gilt-edged chances to bury Madrid, also denying Muller a clear-cut opportunity in the second half.

A free header from a Thiago free-kick should really have hit the back of the net, while a pass late on from Corentin Tolisso was chipped wide. Ronaldo’s biggest involvement of the night was when he handled a long pass in the 71st minute and tried to comically claim a goal afterwards, which was rightfully ruled out.

Two soft goals let in by Bayern

The Bavarians will feel that they should have stopped Real Madrid from scoring in the first leg as the Spaniards scored with two of their four shots on target. Joshua Kimmich gave Bayern the lead with a driving run and shot, set by on-loan James Rodriguez.

The defensive frailties that haunted Real during their narrow escape against Juventus looked to have returned as Franck Ribery almost made it 2-0 only for a poor first touch. Bayern should have really killed the game off in the ten minutes post the Kimmich strike as Muller and Mats Hummels both had chances which should have been taken.

The first goal came about as Marcelo, scorer of goals against PSG, Juventus and now Bayern, took advantage of the fact that no one closed him down as his placed shot beat Ulreich, giving Neuer’s understudy no chance.

Rafinha then played and gave it away in his own half, as Marco Asensio pounced on the chance, putting it away with aplomb as Bayern were caught high up the pitch. It was not a night for the Bayern defence to be proud of.

Bale and Navas futures under the scanner

Zinedine Zidane opted to start with Lucas Vazquez and Isco with Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale on the bench. While two of those Madrid substitutes came on, there was no such luck for the Welshman who sat out of his side’s biggest game of the season till date.

Talk of a strained relationship between the manager and player has seen Bale get lesser game-time as the season draws to an end. Signed as a long-term replacement for talisman Ronaldo, Bale could be on his way out should Zidane remain manager next season.

Keylor Navas receives a lot of flak, sometimes unfairly drawing comparisons with his peers for his keeping. Navas was solid at the Allianz throughout but Bayern’s goal was his error, Kimmich’s near-post shot should really have been saved, had the Costa Rican stopped stood tall.

Madrid are perennially in the market for a custodian since Iker Casillas departed and Zidane will not be pleased by the error in a high-profile game. The name David de Gea has been mooted for several seasons, yet Zidane’s desperation this summer could see him finally land his man.