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Real Madrid stuns Bayern Munich with another Champions League comeback

Madrid substitute striker Joselu scored twice in the final minutes, and Bayern’s attempt at a late equalizer was ruled offside without going to review.

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Real Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund in next month's Champions League final. (Oscar Del Pozo/Getty Images)
2 min

Even by the standards of a club with a flair for late-game Champions League heroics, Real Madrid’s 2-1 comeback win over visiting Bayern Munich was dramatic.

Substitute striker Joselu scored twice in the waning minutes of Wednesday’s semifinal to send the Spanish powerhouse to the Champions League final, 4-3 on aggregate.

Joselu entered the game in the 81st minute with his team on the brink of elimination. It trailed 1-0 in the second game and 3-2 on aggregate.

That lead lasted until the 88th minute, when Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer initially stopped then dropped a long-range effort by Vinícius Júnior. Joselu pounced on the loose ball to equalize.

In the 90th minute, just before the broadcast showed nine minutes of stoppage time on the clock, Vinícius found himself with the ball on the near flank again. Real Madrid flicked the ball inside, then outside, and Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger delivered it to Joselu, who knocked it into the back of the net before an offside was called. The play was reviewed, and moments later, the goal was given.

Four minutes past the prescribed stoppage time, Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt leveled the score, but the referee had issued an offside call. An irate Bayern bench called for the play to be reviewed. The goal didn’t stand, and the final whistle blew after 15 minutes of stoppage time.

A frustrated de Ligt told BeIN Sports after the game that the play should have been reviewed, drawing a comparison to how Joselu’s second score was managed. He called the situation “a shame.”

“If it’s offside or not, I don’t know,” he said. “You can check it. But if you don’t check it, how can you see it?”

Real Madrid’s heroics Wednesday were its latest in a run of late-game Champions League fortune.

In 2022, Madrid trailed Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on aggregate in the round of 16 when Karim Benzema scored a second-half hat trick in just 17 minutes to push Los Blancos through. Facing Chelsea in the quarterfinal, Madrid trailed 4-3 but equalized late to force extra time, and Benzema’s 96th-minute goal secured its passage.

Perhaps most stunning was its semifinal comeback against Manchester City, which led 5-3 on aggregate after 89 minutes of their second leg. Rodrygo netted a brisk brace to force extra time, and Benzema later won the match. Madrid beat Liverpool in the final.

Real Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund on June 1 in the Champions League final at London’s Wembley Stadium. Dortmund, Bayern’s German rival, on Tuesday topped Paris Saint-Germain, 2-0 on aggregate.

Madrid will play in its sixth Champions League final in 10 years, aiming to add to its record 14 European titles.