sport news Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (agg 4-3): Jude Bellingham ousts England ... trends now

Three minutes. That was how close Harry Kane was to a Champions League final at Wembley. Three minutes from home. Three minutes from glory.

But Real Madrid somehow seem immune from defeat here at the Bernabeu and indeed in this competition. And two late goals turned catastrophe in to victory for Carlo Ancelotti and his team.

The Spanish champions will feel they deserve their place in next month’s final against Borussia Dortmund. They dominated much of this game and they had the better chances.

Still they seemed to be heading out after Bayern substitute Alphonso Davies broke to score brilliantly from the angle of the penalty area midway through the second half. The pass to feed him had come from Kane. That feeling only hardened when Real had an apparent equaliser from defender Nacho ruled out by VAR for a foul two minutes later.

The truth is that Bayern probably would have made it had it not been for a mistake from an unlikely source three minutes from time. A low shot from the Brazilian Vinicius Junior should have been gathered by Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. But the ball popped out and Real substitute Joselu - once of Stoke City - poked in the rebound.

That was hard enough to take for Bayern but within minutes they were dead. A low cross was too accurately delivered for the German defence to cope with and despite an initial offside flag, a VAR check showed Joselu to be onside as he scored the second goal to come from barely five minutes on the pitch.

So England’s representative in the final at Wembley will not be Kane or indeed Eric Dier but Real’s Jude Bellingham. By the time the new darling of the Bernabeu was announced as the man of the match over the tannoy, Kane was a desolate figure on the bench having been taken off with the score at 1-0.

The really big teams always warrant an increased level of respect and even, on occasion, a different way of playing. So it was that the challenge presented by Bayern saw Carlo Ancelotti organise his team in to what was essentially an old-fashioned 4-42 formation. 

Bellingham, so used to roaming free in the pocket behind the forwards, was stationed on the left side of the midfield four as Real looked to neutar the threat of Bayern’s speedy wide players on the counter.

Early on the plan didn’t do much to detract from Real’s own attacking threat. The crowd that accompanied the Real team bus on its way to the stadium was 20 deep in places while the atmosphere beneath the closed roof of this remodelled stadium was one of expectation as much as excitement. From the start, Real played like favourites too. 

The press the home team’s attacking players presented whenever Bayern defenders had the ball was suffocating. As such mistakes were to be expected. Eric Dier got away with an early one as he presented the ball to an opponent just outside his own penalty area before a super low Dani Carvajal cross opened Bayern up for the first time in the sixth minute. There were at least four Real players closing on as the ball sped right to left across goal but none of

read more from dailymail.....