Real Madrid have secured their place in the 2024 Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, successfully defeating Bayern Munich in a thrilling semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday evening with a crazy late comeback.
They will face Borussia Dortmund in London on Saturday, June 1st.
With a dramatic 4-3 aggregate win after two close-range goals from veteran substitute Joselu in the final minutes, it is Madrid’s 18th appearance in a European Cup final as they aim for a record-equalling 15th title. Carlo Ancelotti is aiming for seventh place in Europe himself – twice as a player and four times as a manager in his illustrious career.
The first leg in Munich a week ago ended 2-2, with Vinicius Junior scoring the late equalizer from the penalty spot after Bayern canceled out the Brazilian’s first-half opener through Leroy Sane and Harry Kane to take a 2-1 lead.
On their own field and with the home fans behind them, Madrid dominated the second leg, only narrowly gaining possession of the ball, but clearly outscoring the German guests, who had 38-year-old captain Manuel Neuer to thank for staying in the game. But for more than an hour there was nothing to separate the two sides until Alphonso Davies, ironically heavily linked with a move to Madrid in the summer, chose the perfect time to score his first ever Champions League goal.
The Canadian looked for options in the penalty area as he moved forward with the ball down the left side before cutting sharply inside and firing an unstoppable shot into the top far corner with his weaker right foot. That lead appeared to last only a few minutes when Matthijs de Ligt turned the ball into his own net, but a VAR intervention detected a push on Joshua Kimmich and ruled him out.
But Madrid continued to press and finally equalized in the 88th minute. Joselu took advantage of a rare Neuer mistake and missed a weak shot from Vinicius. Incredibly, the substitute scored again in the second minute of stoppage time, directing a pass from Antonio Rüdiger over the goal. The offside flag was initially raised, but a lengthy VAR review overturned the decision to let the goal stand.
Looking for a second Champions League title and their first since 1997, Dortmund had secured their place in next month’s final 24 hours earlier with a 2-0 aggregate win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Mats Hummels scored the only goal of the game in the French capital on Tuesday evening, adding to Niclas Fullkrug’s strike at home in the first leg. It means Kylian Mbappe’s dream of winning the Champions League with PSG before he leaves this summer remains unfulfilled.