When he was already seeing the wreckage, still at 1-2, Carlo Ancelotti sniffed a familiar aroma. I already had Camavinga and Tchouameni ready on the wing to provoke something, and the equalizer came. Viniciuswho had seized the party as a personal matter, a system of attack in itself to which structural imbalances or searches for general meaning do not matter. The Brazilian had set the match on fire and the stands were burning again like on those meaningless nights of other comebacks. Ancelotti stopped the changes and let Vinicius continue turning around a game to which only he had found the keys. Less than a week before the Ballon d’Or was awarded and four days before the classic, the uncontrollable genius re-emerged to knock down Borussia Dortmund with his agitation and a hat trick, which had arrived at the Bernabéu as the leader until then of this new Champions League. .
5
Courtois, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao, Rüdiger, Lucas Vázquez, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham (Arda Guler, min. 89), Modric (Camavinga, min. 71), Kylian Mbappe (Dani Ceballos, min. 89), Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo (Aurelien Tchouameni, min. 84)
2
Gregor Kobel, Rami Bensebaini, Julian Ryerson (Emre Can, min. 75), Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Süle, Malen (Groß, min. 63), Felix NMecha (Maximilian Beier, min. 75), Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Waldemar Anton , min. 54), M. Sabitzer, Brandt and Guirassy
Goals 0-1 min. 29: Malen. 0-2 min. 34: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens. 1-2 min. 59: Rüdiger. 2-2 min. 61: Vinicius Junior. 3-2 min. 83: Lucas Vázquez. 4-2 min. 86: Vinicius Junior. 5-2 min. 93: Vinicius Junior.
Referee István Kovács
yellow cards Vinicius Junior (min. 86)
Until the appearance of Vinicius, the night looked like something very strange. The European Cup, which has so many times served to establish the stature of Madrid’s greatness, on this occasion returned the measure of disorientation. There was Dortmund again, the rival to whom they won the last Orejona less than five months ago. Although it wasn’t even that Wembley team, but rather one quite shaved due to player departures and injuries. While Madrid, on paper, looked quite similar to London, with the addition of Mbappé, the most desired piece of the decade, and without Kroos. But this band doesn’t even remotely play that music. And Ancelotti tried to do it by returning to the basics.
He resumed the 4-3-3 under the command of Luka Modricwhose renewal was almost never a priority last season. The most expendable piece then turns out to be at this point of disorientation the only one capable of setting a course. On Saturday in Vigo he already got them out of trouble with a unique pass to Vinicius. Ancelotti dispensed with Camavinga and Tchouameni and placed Valverde as anchor, accompanied by the Croatian and Bellingham on the right. He tries to look for the founding of a partnership with Rodrygo, but the results are few.
After a first stretch of relative control and energy, with steals at the top and Modric and Bellingham each doing their own thing, Dortmund lost the scare of visiting the champion. When Sahin’s team crossed that first barrier advanced with enthusiasm, they found Real retreating, watching how they became familiar with the ball around Nmecha and Brandt. Until Madrid stumbled again on one of their rocks these days: Lucas Vázquez was overconfident when he went out and the ball was stolen from him very close to his area. So much so that Guirassy met her immediately, pivoted around Rüdiger and left Malen alone, who beat Courtois and stunned the Bernabéu. To those in the stands and those on the grass, who saw Malen arrive from the right and put a cross into the area, but they did not see Gittens arrive from behind and score the second.
There, in the midst of the fall, Madrid produced a first episode of rebellion, with a header from Bellingham into the hands of Kobel and two shots against the crossbar, one from Rodrygo’s overhead kick and another from the Englishman. But the flame did not catch and the Germans withstood the shock.
However, that was not the final shock. That was Vinicius’s doing, whom Ryerson had held well in the first sets. But when Madrid looked flatter, the Brazilian decided that he was going to transform a night in which Mbappé did not appear. And he did it.
He fired the charge that began to knock down Dortmund, flying down the wing, shooting, looking for centers with the outside. Until the avalanche put a ball on Rüdiger’s head and the German floodgates burst. Vinicius then scored and Lucas Vázquez, wearing the captain’s armband, was right with the one who had just turned the score around. However, that was not enough for the Brazilian unleashed on a voracious night. Already in ’85 he flew alone from area to area and scored. And then he hit the hat trick again. He still holds the keys to Madrid, which perhaps was that: coming back.
