Before the start of the 2nd leg of the Champions League quarter-finals round, with Real Madrid leading by 3 away goals and Barcelona leading by 4-1, even the greatest predictor couldn’t have predict that the football world is about to witness one of the greatest comeback in the history of football and a goal in the last minute to decide the winner.
After Barcelona let a 4-1 first-leg lead slip away to Roma on Tuesday to crash out of the Champions League in humiliating fashion, Real Madrid almost followed them with an even worse capitulation on Wednesday.
With a comfortable 3-0 away lead, Real Madrid came to the Santiago Bernabeu with all the confidence in the world. But things started to change a bit as soon as the match started after Mario Mandzukic scored a goal in the 2nd minute of the match.
In the absence of the captain Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid’s defence looked shaky right from the word go and Mandzukic took the best advantage of it as he scored yet another goal from a header at the 37th minute of the match.
Despite creating some chances, the Los Blancos had to go the dressing room without scoring a goal in the first half. Before the start of the second half, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane made some bold and brave substitutions.
Gareth Bale and Casemiro who had a disaster of a performance in the first half were replaced by Lucas Vasquez and Marco Asensio. But that didn’t stop Juventus from scoring their third goal courtesy of a blunder from goal-keeper Keylor Navas.
With 3-3 on the scoreline and more than 25 minutes to go, the Santiago Bernabeu crowd had their heart in their mouth. Madrid were on the verge of one of the most embarrassing nights in their history. With disaster impending, it was a good time to finally find focus.
At 3-3 on aggregate, Real pushed and Juve began to look tired. Theirs had been a monumental effort and just when it seemed as if the night was heading for 30 more minutes of drama in the shape of extra time, Madrid won a penalty after Medhi Benatia appeared to shove Lucas Vazquez in the back.
Juve’s players protested vociferously and Gianluigi Buffon was shown the red card in what may well have been his final Champions League game, the 40-year-old applauded off the pitch by both sets of fans.
The nervousness and tension started to build all over the Santiago Bernabeu and even the suspended captain of Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos couldn’t hold back any more as he came to the tunnel despite being suspended and now that can be resulted in yet another one-match suspension for the Spanish defender.
And as so often, it was left to Ronaldo to have the last say, the Portuguese blasting the penalty into the top corner to break brave Juve’s hearts and get Real Madrid out of jail as they progress, by the skin of their teeth, to the last four of the competition.
With this win, Real Madrid qualify in the semi-finals for the 8th consecutive time and now they are only three matches away from winning hat-tricks of Champions League title.
FT: Real Madrid 1-3 Juventus (Agg: 4-3)
Ronaldo 90+7′ (P) | Mandzukic 2′, 37′, Matuidi 60′