The most fascinating duel of quarter final that was arguably claimed to prove the statement with two of the most prestigious rivalry facing off witnessed an even more breathtaking picture with Real Madrid cruised to a wonderful 2-1 away win against their favorite host Bayern Munich. prior to the battle Bundesliga champions was slightly tipped as the favorite at Alianz Arena against their familiar rival of recent years, but on the pitch a different vision was proven with visitors producing one of their fantastic performances this season. Carlo Ancelotti might would have given Bayern a positive psychological impression to stand a better chance against the team he accomplished a further coaching legacy when guiding them to win the competition in 2014, famously known as “La Decima” their historic tenth championship, but at the end even he failed to transform that glorious image in his first European spell with German side against Spanish giant, there is a relatively noticeable evidence about him being outclassed by Zidane, still some major scenario changing factors proved for visitor’s victory. playing with his adapted interactive dimension of three men midfield that enjoyed a flexibility of alternated central holding combination in the midfield with Thiago Alcantra deployed as deep holding passer and Xabi Alonso partnering Arturo Vidal as central lying playmakers to contribute offering his front trio attacking line with Robben and Ribery as outside striker-auxiliary wide creators to deliver one of those brilliant performances, but the early storm of optimism was virtually faded away with an struggling game defined vision and the lost of vital collective strategy against their sharp opponent. Madrid remained committed to their adapted tactical shape defined by intense pressing, enthusiastic transition of midfield in courtesy of two masterful lying passers in Modric and Kroos fueling with a desirable sparking tempo of attack in the final third; their mission have delightfully witnessed a major efficiency and edge and once again their extraordinary winning factor Ronaldo was the main hero with his sheer genius winning efforts. both sides intended to fiercely contributing to initiate the control of midfield specially the wide areas with plenty of flashy wide providers looked to ignite exciting runs, Marcelo and Carvajal on both side of flanks provides strings of productive plays to combine with their attack, while Philip Lahm and Alaba were deployed out wide to generate series of interactive open run exchanges to provide spontaneous overlaps and energetic passing link up with central mids when switching off to possession gear and joining attack with Robben, Ribery and Vidal alternating positions across the line; the movements which envisioned an enthusiastic individual impact on both sides on the interface of a superbly entertaining spectrum; one with a superbly adapted possession style relying on creativity and incisiveness and the other side inspired with a cohesive reactive approach mastering a fine balance of intelligent pressing, intense counter and high tempo combinations; the tender encounter swiftly inspired Madrid for so many reasons. their eager tendency to fire off the flanks that seen strings of flashy combinations between Carvajal and Bale ignited by Modric on the right channel and Marcel with Benzema and Ronaldo on the left put an effective pressure on Bayern, Carvajal inside the 6th minutes sent a curling cross that seen Benzema rising high to glance a header that was bounced off before Neuer saving it at the high. still the hosts expectedly intensified their control in the midfield, generating vital mobility for open run by Vidal, Alonso occupying the interaction of wide to central spaces while Alcantra more freely anticipated neat link up play to win spaces for their attackers, generating neat pint point short exchange in the first 20 minutes, first Robben ignited a dazzling play on the right when exchanging with Alcantra to drift inside before switching to Alaba over the left with a chance to shot, but his long range effort went wide, then then Ribery’s delicate footwork in stretching Casemiro and Nacho out of position played off to Vidal and his attempted turn of pass to Muller on the edge of box was blocked by Real defense. they scored the opener, Alcantra’s corner kick from the right allowed Vidal to time his run and perfectly beating his marker Nacho to glance a delightful header into the top of the corner, it signaled Bayern’s eagerness to dictate the attack, it was Robben that boosted a vital flash of flair and dynamic out wide as he sparklingly flying on the right while delicately ignited a neat dribbling trademark when rounding both Ramos and Carvajal to cut inside and sending a fine cross that Vidal managed to connect with a timely header but his effort went narrowly over the bar. perhaps the most distinctive edge of Bayern’s defined momentum scenario came right before the half time which appeared as a highly divided spectrum between their initial vision of achievement and their eventual mysterious challenge that heated up the fear of the same nightmare they faced last season. Robben ignited yet another flash of neat short interchanges when drifting inside with Alcantra and Vidal that faced Real’s back line press around the box and it was reinforced into Ribery as he turned it perfectly into his gear, sparking a neat touch inside few defenders while delicately tricked the back line with his cut back skills to set himself with a low range shot that was blocked by Nacho and earned them a penalty. Vidal neglectfully sent his shot over the bar that left the host side regretting for this missed opportunity. right inside the second half everything suddenly turned upside down for Bayern and Real scored the equalizer, playing with far more intensity and eagerness to intricate fine passing to open the line Carvajal burst on the right hand side before sending an accurate wide cross inside the box for Ronaldo to smack a perfectly measured excellent half volley inside the lower near post and regained their hope of returning to the game. the next episode ultimately decided their unfaithful night with Xavi Martinez committed to sloppy fouls on Ronaldo and was shown red card to leave his team with one less player. Real supervised the freedom of possession in the midfield in reliance of energetic passing coordination as much as igniting a desirable tempo of pace up front with Modrid joining the strikers to interchange with Kroos and Bale in advance positions, creating open spaces to get behind Bayern, first Carvajal that produced one of his best European football career exchanged neatly first with Casimero outside of the box that seen Brazilian fired his left footed shot which Neuer saved and then the energetic right back exploited a gap behind Boateng to set Benzema with a final shot but his effort yet again drew a beautiful timely diving save from German goalkeeper. on the next move from left Marcelo and Kroos provided a crafty overlap to widen Bayern’s back line when playing Benzema on the edge of box whom linked with Marcelo’s return run to pick up Ronaldo inside the 6yard but his shot was amazingly cleared by Neuer before arrival of the winning goal. once the inexplicable evidence of Bayern’s extreme collapse reached the point of shattering their even reasonable extent of tactical competency after Martinez red card further allowed Madrid to dictate the pace of attack with a wave of energetic passing and purposeful mobility deep in Bayern’s back line. Germans were punished for ther poor strategic combativeness, lack of structural clarity equal as misplaced tactical shape and incoherent rhythm of productivity and the winning goal came. an string of persistent short passing exchanged between Kroos and Modric the German turned a short play on the left as he paused and sent a neat low inside cross which led Ronaldo with a timely anticipation untracking Bernat’s press and directing his toe poken touch that squeezed between Neuer legs and this time beaten the world’s arguably best goalkeeper to seal an incredible away win for Madrid that vastly kept them in an exciting path to their semi final passage, the prospect that looked less a realistic before the first leg.
verdict: the victory ultimately underlined some major insights and facts about both side’s realistic potential ahead of the second leg. Bayern experienced one of the most mysterious European defeats at home and against the team that now would claim their superiority against German on the milestone of competition in recent years. in contrast to expectations German champions were so disappointing to envision their status as a title contender at home and their display could barely seen as nearly decent at this stage of tournament against the much experienced and adapted Real Madrid, even with the majority of polls in favor of Bayern but they were ultimately crushed by a well defined side of championship legacy like Real in vital aspects of match. the visitors fiercely have shown tactical awareness, committed work ethic, confident winning strategy and collective enthusiasm simplified in sheer resiliency, cohesiveness and pivotal edge and flair of attacking elements in frustrating their host the entire game, reinforcing Bayern to fail dictating their possession approach above all and let alone offered themselves a demanding vision of game changing transparency and depth of eager competitiveness and quality when got back on track with equalizer and eventually reigniting a delightful tempo and precision factors that mainly is proven as inspiration for teams with strength of defensive pressing order and creative attacking play and midfield, Toni Kroos was outstanding in his central lying passing role partnering Modric with massive ability to supervise the balance of transition when dictating the pace of passing in the midfield, providing a sheer vision of orchestrating passing play with interacting the mobility of attackers going forward as well the open time and space given to Modric for creating those fine movements, a crucial key element to Madrid’s attacking success in the second half specially. the full backs, Carvajal and Marcelo both provided a fantastic play as usually when pressing the spaces to Robben, Ribery and Muller at defense while streaming forward with more precision, Carvajal particularly enjoyed a great night on both side of wide duties spectrum, his brilliant cross leading to Ronaldo’s equalizers and constant flying runs to spark overlaps were outstanding. on the other side the absence of Lewandowski, the world’s truly best center forward, technically referred as number nine figure at the moment really suffered Bayern as they largely failed to generate a flash of sustainable dynamic spaces and press-breaking penetrative combinations when playing at highest level of competitions and without him neither Robben and Ribery essentially fueled that efficient vision of killing punch. Lewandowski offers an incredible gear of positional superiority, explosiveness and spontaneity to interact crucial spaces for interchanging play across the flanks to allow midfield anticipating quicker off the ball runs that simplifies the penetration plays for Robben and Ribery, while he is capable of pulling off his makers and holding the ball to ignite a tempo of combinations between wing backs with three joint creators with fine change of passing. Douglas Costa also is the major asset for Bayern that would inspire dimension of technical fluidity with his brilliant skills, blistering speed and timely dynamic runs on the both sides of the flanks as a wide strikers which seem extremely vital to boost a dynamic pattern of attack in the second leg.
