It’s Marco Real champions as sub snatches it
BAYERN M ...... 1 R MADRID ........ 2
ZINEDINE ZIDANE hailed his Real Madrid star as sub Marco Asensio snatched a first-leg win – but warned the clash is far from over.
Asensio’s 11th goal of the campaign, 12 minutes into the second period, means the back-to-back champions are on course for a hat-trick of titles.
But pointing to their quarter-final win over Juventus – where they sneaked through after a 3-1 second-leg loss – Zizou remained cautious.
He said: “We’re satisfied with the result but had a lot of problems in the first few minutes trying to take control. The tie is far from over.
“After the Juve match we need to approach the Bayern result differently, otherwise things could go badly for us.”
The Germans settled quicker than the reigning European kings and took the lead in 28 minutes.
With Marcelo out of position, Bayern broke quickly, with on-loan Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez freeing Joshua Kimmich.
The German youngster raced into the box and fired home, beating Keylor Navas as the Costa Rican gambled on a cross that never came.
Bayern dominated but couldn’t add to their lead.
Mats Hummels headed over before Franck Ribery’s heavy touch when clean through saw a golden chance wasted.
Right on half-time that profligacy was punished when a long diagonal was headed away by Dani Carvajal but bounced up 20 yards out and was drilled home by Marcelo.
Just after 10 minutes into the second period, Rafinha’s mistake handed a two v one to Lucas Vazquez and Asensio who slotted past Sven Ulriech.
Bayern gaffer Jupp Heynckes said: “At such a high level you can’t make mistakes like that at the back.” SO grotesque and obscene have the riches of English football become that when Liverpool paid £35million for Mohamed Salah last summer the whole event passed off as just another day in the transfer market.
What very few people, with the possible exception of Jurgen Klopp – and even the German may have been taken by surprise – realised at the time was the third most gifted football player anywhere on the planet was on his way to Anfield.
That’s what Klopp was getting for his money when Roma allowed Salah to return to the platinum-plated environment of English Premier League, where he had hardly raised an eyebrow during a previous, unspectacular stop-off at Chelsea.
Salah spent 12 months at Stamford Bridge under Jose Mourinho and most of that time was spent on a watching brief, from a seat on the bench or in the main stand.
That he made just 13 top-team appearances during that time before being offered up as a makeweight in a deal to sign Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina now points to one of the most astounding miscalculations of Mourinho’s managerial career.
Somewhere under his stock pile of big-money buys, Mourinho managed to misplace then discard the closest thing the English game has seen to genuine greatness since Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid six years earlier in 2009.
His capture, even though it eclipsed Liverpool’s record transfer fee, had cost the club not much more than they once splashed out on Andy Carroll.
In a blistering nine months on Merseyside Salah has proven himself to be a lot less like Carroll and a lot more like an Egyptian Lionel Messi.
While Messi and Ronaldo remain out on their own in a two-way tussle for the status of the greatest players of this or any generation for that matter, Salah has been firing his way towards that argument with 43 goals in his first 47 games in a red shirt.
His latest double, plundered against his old pals of Roma on Tuesday, also carried Liverpool to within 90 minutes of this season’s Champions League Final.
In purely black and white these