What is shocking is they were ten minutes away from getting knocked out, at home, against the worst Bayern team in a decade. It was about to be a harrowing night in the Bernabeu, but instead - Madrid does what it does, as always. Find a way to manufacture wins, and get back to where they just belong, at the precipice of another potential Champions League title.
It wasn't suppsoed to come this easy. This was a year of transition. No Benzema, and no Mbappe yet. Injuries to their mainstays in defense (Alaba, Medy) and goalkeeper. Modric and Kroos splitting time. Integrating untested youngsters in Tchoumeni and Cammavinga in more full time roles. Now, they were not bad or bereft of talent. Anyone with a brain would think they could have competed for La Liga, but last year they were fully outclassed in the Champions League Semifinal loss to Manchester City, losing 0-4 in teh second leg. This was in theory a worse team tahn last year, and definitely worse than the 2022 team that won the Champions League with Benzema at his ballon d'or best.
Instead, here we are, Madrid the team being dominant in Spain, and Madrid the team being magical, mystical and unkillable in Europe.
It all centers around Don Carlo, the coach who was given a renewed life being spared from Everton right before the start of the 2021-22 season, after Zidane left Madrid more quickly than anyone would've wanted. Ancelotti was seen as a desperate hire, a retread for Madrid itself, him having been unceremoniosly sacked in 2015 after losing La Liga and the Champions League. Of course, that firing brought in the Zidane era, which transitioned so beautifully back to the Ancelotti era. The duo on the sidelines for La Decima, when the voodoo and black magic all started, have been on teh sidelines basically ever moment since, and it has never not been just simply magical.
The resume at this point is comical, starting from that night of La Decima, with Ramos's goal at 92:48 to break Atletico's heart. From there we ahve Cristiano's hat trick to overturn a 0-2 first leg loss to Wolfsburg in 2016. Their incredible win against Bayern in the 2017 Semifinals, winning in extra time. Their escape against Juventus in 2018 after nearly blowing a first leg 3-0 win in Turin (the famous Ronaldo bicycle-kick game). The trio of comebacks in 2022 on their way to their latest win, including a win so similar in a way to this one in that year's semifinals - with substitute Rodrygo scoring two quick goals. That year it was to force extra time. This year it was to just force another miracle win.
What it is about Madrid and this tournament? But more realistically, what it is about Madrid and their mentality in the Ancelotti/Zidane eras. As going into 2014, Madrid was having a rough divorce from Champions League glory. Notably from 2004-2010 they lost in the Round of 16 seven straight times. They made the Semifinals in 2011 - 2013 under Jose Mourinho but lost each time, first harrowingly to Barcelona, then hauntingly to Bayern in PKs in 2012 and lastly, embarrassingly, to Klopp's Dortmund in 2013. That all changed with the arrival of Don Carlo - and his assistant manager in one Zinedine Zidane.
I think what has most made this possible is a commitment to both calmness and flesibility. Madrid never loses their cool. They never get overmatched (again excepting I guess the Semifinal loss to Man City last year). They never seem stressed or rushed or anxious. And some of that also is they're built to react and adapt. It has been a longstanding knock, stupidly, against Ancelotti and Zidane that they're more vibes and "man management" (often used in the most condescending way...) than tactics and manegerial brilliance. Maybe that was true (it wasn't) in 2014-2018 when they were supremely talented, but starting with Zidane's Covid La Liga run in 2020 after losing Ronaldo, Real Madrid has been incredibly malleable.
In those last few Zidane seasons, he would alternate between a 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, going week by week gameplanning excellently. Injuries became a all too common occurrence. It was those years that the ingenuity became truly on display, with ideas like playing Lucas Vazquez as a fullback and whatnot. That has only grown in truth in these last couple Ancelotti seasons, losing Benzema (who post Ronaldo, had taken his game to the next level) but then himself needing to do things like play Tchoumeni as a fullback, Cammavinga has a centerback, Bellingham as a false nine, and turn to Brahim Diaz and, of course the hero of today, Joselu. None of this should work, and none of it would if the mangers weren't creative, flexible enough to make it happen.
And that mentality, and yes a healthy dose of vibes and a super strong connection within the team, came to play today. Joselu getting the two goals - admittedly one gifted by a terrible mistake by Neuer. But the other was a brilliant cross in by Rudiger - a guy who has grown in stature as most of the rest of the back line has been a mixed bag week after week. This was Madrid in all their glory.
It isn't done, and this Dortmund team is special and easily could beat Madrid in Wembley in a month. Heck, a similar, magical Dortmund team did just that in 2013 against Madrid. But this time, this Madrid is a stronger team mentally, a stronger team managerially, and a strong group overall because they rise to the moment, time after time after time. There's magic in that locker room.
