Villarreal’s Samu Chuckwueze scores late goal to stun Bayern Munich
Samuel Chukwueze snatched a dramatic 88th-minute equaliser to send Villarreal through to the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
Four minutes after coming on as a substitute, Chukwueze swept home a cross by Gerard Moreno to cancel out Robert Lewandowski’s 52ndminute opener and send the La Liga side through by virtue of a 2-1 aggregate scoreline.
Villarreal had withstood mounting Bayern pressure in the second half, with Lucas Hernández and Thomas Müller among those who had a chance to win it before the visitors sealed the deal with extra-time looming.
The hosts had looked listless for much of the first period and it took until just before the half-hour for them to muster a shot on target when Jamal Musiala headed straight at the Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
Villarreal were coping comfortably with Bayern’s one-dimensional approaches and looked increasingly confident of clinging on to the hard-fought single-goal advantage they had forged in the first leg.
Lewandowski’s frustrations got the better of him when he was booked for a foul on Raul Albiol in the 33rd minute, then Arnaut Danjuma and Moreno both came close for the visitors.
But it was a different story after the break as Bayern finally got into gear, and Dayot Upamecano should have scored from a clever cut-back by the busy Leroy Sané in the 51st minute.
Moments later Lewandowski ended a strong spell of pressure by poking Bayern in front on the night, sparking a spell of pressure that saw Hernández shoot straight at Rulli, and Müller miss a glorious chance with a close-range header from another Sané cross.
In the midst of the chances, Moreno had served a warning by flashing the ball across the face of the Bayern box on a swift counter-attack, and that danger became a reality four minutes after Chukwueze’s introduction.
The Nigerian kept his cool to fire another Moreno cross past Manuel Neuer and the “Yellow Submarine” saw out the dying moments to secure a famous aggregate win and a place in the last four.