'Lucky punch' enough to lift Bayern
- by Soccer America , Apr 17, 2012
[VIDEO PICK] Mario Gomez scored his 12th goal of the Champions League to lead Bayern Munich to a 2-1 win over Real
Madrid in the first leg of their semifinal series. Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho called the goal a "lucky punch" but it was enough to give Bayern its 14th win
in its last 15 home games. For video highlights ...
Trivia: Gomez's 12 goals would have matched Ruud van
Nistelrooy's Champions League record for goals in a season set in 2002-03, but Barcelona's Lionel Messi has already topped that. Messi heads into
Wednesday's game against Chelsea with 14 goals on the season.
Bayern Munich reaction: "In my opinion, we deserved to win and we beat a great team. We
played with hunger, passion and ambition." -- Coach Jupp Heynckes
Real Madrid reaction: "It's not a bad
result, but it means we have to win at home and turn it around. It's not the biggest turnaround in history." -- Mourinho
The second leg: Wednesday
April 25 in Madrid.
The world would be a better place if Mourinho would stop talking. Bayern's winning goal was an excellent case of "if you do the right things, good things happen." Great move by Lamm to beat his defender, great cross, Gomez made a great run. The finish had an element of luck, since Gomez hit it twice, but it wasn't like Casillo was only beaten because of the deflection. Real Madrid was too content with a 1-1 draw, and got punished for their complacency by the hungrier team. That's the way it's supposed to work.
BM was the better team on the night and deserved the win.
Excellent comments Kent. Gomez had two or three very good opportunities earlier that Mourinho seemed to forget. He missed from point blank range over the bar. He tried flicking a high paced cross to the upper far post when a knockdown to the near post probably would have scored. His first touch on a couple of nicely placed balls over the top was awry. I was pretty frustrated with him, but he kept on coming and the team was rewarded. Madrid was finding all kinds of space on long balls played into the flanks. Benzema looked particularly dangerous. Then after the goal, they gave up on it. Everytime I've seen Madrid play in big games since Ronaldo joined them, I've come away thinking, "What a bunch of whiners."
Real Madrid just can't beat Bayern in Munich. That makes nine losses, one draw, and zero wins. Talk about home field advantage. All my chips go to Philipp Lahm and Mario Gomez. Those two dudes wanted it the most and worked the hardest. Not a coincidence, then, that they were the ones who made it happen at the end. Nothing but money. Count it.