BENZ MAKES NO MISTAKE
KARIM BENZEMA silenced his Spanish critics by firing Madrid into the Champions League Final.
The French striker – who has often been booed by his own fans at the Bernabeu – was the hero as Real held off a superb Bayern effort.
But Munich keeper Sven Ulreich will never live down the goal he gifted Benzema that ultimately sealed Bayern’s fate.
Triumphant skipper Sergio Ramos tweeted from the dressing room: “We wrote history again. Now we want to become legends.”
But gutted Bayern defender Mats Hummels admitted they’d blown it.
He said: “We gifted Real a goal in both legs. That’s football sometimes but glaring mistakes like that can’t happen at this level.
“We had the upper hand, we had chance after chance but we didn’t take them and that cost us.
And fellow stopper David Alaba added: “We deserved to reach the Final.”
Zinedine Zidane’s side rode their luck all night before finally grabbing the chance to win their 13th European Cup.
Bayern went ahead in the third minute when right-back Joshua Kimmich slammed the ball home from close range after Ramos failed to properly Corentin Tolisso’s cross. And Madrid levelled in the 11th minute of a pulsating, end-to-end clash when Benzema nodded in Marcelo’s sumptuous cross.
Both midfields were bypassed as Bayern looked to attack and Madrid hit back strongly on the counter.
Referee Cuneyt Cakir could have given Bayern two penalties after a Marcelo handball and Ramos’s foul on Robert Lewandowski.
The Polish forward has been linked with a move to the Bernabeu to replace Benzema but on this showing there is life in the Frenchman yet.
And Benzema was alert to capitalise on Ulreich’s calamitous error at the start of the second half.
He gleefully tapped home after the Bayern keeper stumbled over Tolisso’s passback and allowed the ball to run behind him for Benzema to tap into an empty net.
Cristiano Ronaldo – now set to equal Paolo Maldini’s record of six Champions League finals – missed a sitter and Madrid keeper Keylor Navas made up for his first-leg error with a string of special saves to frustrate Jupp Heynckes’s increasingly desperate side.
The home fans’ nerves were frayed to the end but defending champs Madrid marched into another European Cup Final.