Just ridiculous. Just Real Madrid. The team that appears to own this competition, that has some mystical hold over it and has lifted that trophy 14 times, are in the final again because, well, because of course they are. Late, very late on another wild, magical night here, the Santiago Bernabéu launched into a familiar chant. “That’s how Madrid win,” it goes, and so they do. Again and again and again, each time more epic, more absurd than the last, this football force that just can’t be contained. The closer you think you are, the further away it is, as Bayern Munich found.Bayern had held on, they had survived, and they had scored. They should have scored again, ending this, killing off the team that just will not die, but they hadn’t. And yet still, Wembley was so close now. There were less than three minutes to go in this semi-final, but it turned out to be a lifetime, one they will surely spend wondering how this happened. Enough time not just for Madrid to equalise but to win it, two goals from the former Stoke and Newcastle striker Joselu, sent on as a sub, taking them to the final, this place exploding. Continue reading...