Toni Kroos stood on the lawn of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in slippers and looked in vain for explanations for the football madness in the Champions League.
With an almost unbelievable comeback, record winners Real Madrid turned around a semi-final second leg against Manchester City that they thought they had lost on Wednesday evening 3-1 (2-1, 0-0) after extra time. The royals are in the dream final against Liverpool with coach Jürgen Klopp on May 28 in Paris.
Benzema provides a knockout
“It’s amazing, we’ve been out 26 times in the knockout phase and we’ve fought back 26 times. It’s sometimes difficult to explain, even for me. It’s the belief, this is the stadium, the combination is magical,” said Kroos at DAZN. With two goals from Rodrygo in the 90th minute and in added time, Real had saved themselves in extra time. There, striker Karim Benzema (95th) scored his 15th premier class goal this season with a penalty kick for Man City’s knockout, which had triumphed 4-3 in the first leg.
“Anything but an easy task”
“You can’t believe that anywhere. We’ve shown what we’re capable of this season. It’s unbelievable how the team came back. It’s mentally ill. We have a character within the team that’s very special,” said ex- Bayern professional David Alaba, who was only a substitute this time. The Austrian already looked at the final against Liverpool, which is also a replay of the 2018 final: “We also know what Liverpool plays for a season. It’s anything but an easy task.”
The road to the final was not easy either. As in the round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain and in the quarter-finals against Chelsea, Benzema and Co. turned around a game they thought they had lost. City experienced almost the same trauma as Bayern did in the 2-1 draw with Man United with two late goals in the 1999 final. This time the main actor was Rodrygo.
The match winner came on for Kroos in the 68th minute. The German world champion of 2014 still had a task after that. In extra time he acted as an advisor to his coach Carlo Ancelotti. The successful Italian coach talked to other players in the final phase.
“Of course he’s interested in our opinion”
“The coach himself had a few doubts about who he would bring and who not. We all saw a few football games ourselves. Then you can exchange ideas a bit. He’s just like that. That he doesn’t say ‘I’ll do it’, when he has slight doubts that he will bring us in there,” Kroos described the unusual scene at DAZN and added: “That describes him really well and why it always works well with the team. It’s outstanding. In the end he decides , but of course he is interested in our opinion.”
On the other hand, Pep Guardiola was served. “Football is unpredictable. We have to accept it, keep going and come back,” said the Spaniard, who has been chasing the Henkel Cup with Man City since 2016 – despite the many millions from the donor. The only consolation prize is the championship. Manchester is one point ahead of Liverpool FC, who can make the historic title four-pack perfect. But Klopp and Co. would have to overcome the high hurdle of Real Madrid.
Source: dpa