Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). If FC Bayern München is known as “la bestia negra” to fans and the team of Real Madrid, then a “black beast” for Bayern certainly is Cristiano Ronaldo. “CR7” scored five times in two matches of the quarterfinal of the Champions League against the seemingly never-ending record champion of the men’s football league in Germany. Can’t do better then that, can you!
The maddening man from Madeira, earning his money in Madrid, stays emperor of the royal class. The Portuguese world star in the service of real Royals is the golden guy with 100 goals. During that 4:2 floodlit victory in the Spanish capital recently, a glorious hero vanquished Bayern with number 98, 99 and 100.
Especially against Bayern this living monument, who has already been crowned five times with the goal-getter glitter in the highest UEFA league, made all the difference. Robert Lewandowski scored only once for the FC, from the penalty spot (53). The weak referee Viktor Kassei, from Hungary as his helpers, decided this way as in his thinking Arjen Robben dropped down in the penalty area and Casemiro stood too close. Robben fell, and so did Kassei fall for it. No doubt this was a two-fight, but whether it deserved a penalty, will probably remain a matter to discuss for everybody, on or off the field – like up here at Hofbräu Berlin.
Neither the Polish player nor his teammates achieved a goal out of the game. Ribéry and Robben, Lewandowski and Vidal, all of them and many more let lots of good opportunities lie.
The second goal credited to the guests of Real Madrid was an own one, a fault of Sergio Ramos (78). Prior to that, after a lovely lob by Casemiro, the “CR7” logo also called Ronaldo scored the 1:1 draw.
Because it was 2:1 after 90 minutes plus spare time for the guests from Munich, where Real had won 2:1 a week before, the decisive quarter-leg went into extension. Bayern had to tackle the situation with a man less on the field. Vidal had already seen a yellow card in the fifth minute and then a yellow and red card from Kassei in the 84th. Rarely is ‘yellow’ given so early, and the second card was an absolute error. Really it was a joke, even if reality against Real and neither funny for Arturo Vidal nor for the footballers or the fans of Bayern. On the other side, Casemiro should have seen red and not stay part of the game until the end.
Funny, but for Bayern no laughing matter, were two ‘offside’ goals. Only when their opponents were decimated, did Real strike back. Ronaldo’s 2: 2 lead wasn’t a hit (105) same as his decisive 3-2 just minutes later (109) – both wrong decisions of a referee who at no time mastered the game. Marco Asensio’s remarkable solo making it 4:2 was of no importance any more for either Real or Bayern left without any hope by now to turn the tables and win.
At least a handful, if not a dozen, wrong decisions made by referee Kassei and his adjudicators showed to everybody that this was not only a controversial, it was throughout the game a thoroughly bad performance and anything but insignificant for the result. Bayern Munich has been whistled out neatly, what a devastating disaster. But this is only one side of the truth. The fact that only one player can achieve two goals in the first leg and three goals in the return against them is a weak performance and wont do for O- or A-level.
To make things even worse, the substitutions by top trainer Carlo Ancelotti were anything but happy. Why Douglas Costa for Ribery (71)? Why Thomas Müller for Xabi Alonso (75)? And: why Joshua Kimmich for Lewandowski (88)? That with a referee like Kassei a player like Vidal was just looking for a yellow and red card would have been predicted by thousands of hobby coaches in Germany, and that Bayern’s old ones are becoming increasingly tired, too.
With Ribery and Robben, there’s no Champions League to be won, with Alonso and lame Lahm it’s the same, the two will stop playing after this season, as with Costa and Kingsley Coman, they are just not good enough. What might do for the Bundesliga will not work in the Champions League, it requires men of calibre like “CR7”.
By the way, not only the team of FC Bayern München were beaten in Madrid, but also several of their fans, by Spanish police officers.
