Real Madrid: How did the football world react to Los Blancos’ extraordinary Champions League semi-final win

CNN
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Liverpool star ‘We have a result to settle it’ Mohamed Salah tweet after Real Madrid made an extraordinary late comeback against Manchester City To prepare for a confrontation with the Reds in the Champions League final on May 28.

The last time the two teams faced each other was in Kyiv in 2018, when Salah left the field in tears after being injured by Sergio Ramos’ tackle. Real Madrid eventually won 3-1 They lifted the 13th European Cup.

Now, in Paris – after moving the final from St Petersburg after the Russian invasion of Ukraine – the Reds and Los Blancos will meet again.

Real Madrid, having failed with a single shot on target throughout the evening, were 5-3 behind on aggregate as time approached 90 minutes on Wednesday.

Subsequently, two goals – one with a 90-minute strike and one in overtime – from substitute Rodrygo left the scoreline on aggregate and dragged the match into overtime.

Because of the tumultuous atmosphere that erupted around the Bernabéu, Real Madrid’s attack continued, and resulted in a penalty kick in the 95th minute. Karim Benzema stepped up and turned and pushed his team to the Champions League final.

Like the fans in the stadium, the reaction in the Spanish newspapers was delirious. “God needs to come and explain it,” the Spanish newspaper announced mark.

“Real Madrid is from another planet,” it reads AS FRONT PAGE.

Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona-based newspaper that is more traditionally associated with Real Madrid’s great rival Barcelona, ​​ran the headline “Groundhog Day”, referring to the streak of Los Meringues’ impressive comeback from the Bernabeu in the Champions League knockout stages.

In the quarter-finals, Benzema defeated a hat-trick in the second half of the second leg and overturned a 2-0 deficit on aggregate. In the semi-final against Chelsea, a late goal from Rodrygo pushed the equalizer into extra time before Benzema scored the decisive goal in the 96th minute.

“I cannot say that we are used to living this kind of life, but what happened tonight happened against Chelsea as well as against Paris,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said, according to the BBC.

“If you have to say why, it’s the history of this club that helps us carry on when it looks like we’re gone.

“The match was almost over and we were able to find the last energy we had. We played a good match against a strong opponent. When we managed to equalize, we had a psychological advantage in overtime.”

Real midfielder Federico Valverde said, according to the BBC, it was “another crazy night”.

“When City scored, I felt like everything was falling apart – all that effort and fighting every round, I felt lost.

“But the fans were a big help for us to keep fighting until the end. When you score goals, you think ‘we are going to win today,'” he said.

Faithful to the chants chanted by Real fans around the Bernabeu – “hasta el final, vamos Real” (“until the end, let’s go to Real Madrid”) and “sí, se puede” (“yes, we can”) – Real Madrid pulled out with a miraculous result. other over the ages.