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Facing a Bayern Munich squad with much more football played at its feet, Real Madrid turned to a smart and compact game plan at Allianz Arena en route to a penalty shootout win. The sellout crowd on hand for the tribute to Franz Beckenbauer was treated to an entertaining match despite the lack of goals in regulation time.
Only two Madridistas had yet to debut for their new team. Sami Khedira and Ricardo Carvalho got the nod for kick-off as Mourinho turned to a 4-2-3-1 game plan. The matched promised to be a thriller and so it was. Notwithstanding the goalless first half, there were plenty of near misses that brought the crowd to its feet. Real Madrid had the first on 3’ when Pedro Leon curled in a perfect pass for Higuain, who headered the ball over the crossbar.
Bayern pressed forward and had their best chance of the match in their first good look on goal. Ribery was upended by Ramos in the box for a spot kick, but Casillas laid out perfectly to prevent Muller’s shot from going in and then stretched his body to the limit again to prevent Klose from firing home the deflection.
Real Madrid attacked back and on two occasions nearly got on the scoreboard. Cristiano Ronaldo took possession of the ball in the midfield, escaped from three pursuers and opened to Ramos along the wing. The right-back then assisted Higuain, whose shot went straight into the hands of Butt. Three minutes later, Marcelo’s strike from 20 meters out was inches wide of the left post. Hoping to give Beckenbauer something to cheer for, Pranjic tried his luck with a volley from the top of the box to no avail and Ribery and Klose were both stymied by the hands of an inspired Casillas.
The appearance of Di Maria, Benzema, Lass and Van der Vaart on the field of play gave a breath of fresh air to the Whites, who came close to breaking the deadlock with a play that saw all four substitutes take part in. Cristiano Ronaldo later had a chance of his own following a superb cross by Benzema, but his header was punched over the woodwork by the Bayern keeper.
With regulation time expired, the match came down to a penalty shooutout and Casillas again came up big to earn Real Madrid the victory.
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