Real Madrid reach 2024 Champions League final after stunning semi-final comeback

Real Madrid have booked their place in the 2024 Champions League final at Wembley, successfully seeing off Bayern Munich with a bonkers late comeback in a tense semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

They will meet Borussia Dortmund in London on Saturday 1 June.

Securing a dramatic 4-3 aggregate victory after two close-range goals from veteran substitute Joselu in the dying minutes, it will be an 18th European Cup final appearance for Madrid as they seek a record-extending 15th title. Carlo Ancelotti is going for European Cup number seven himself – two as a player, four as a manager so far in his illustrious career.

The first leg in Munich a week ago had finished 2-2, with Vinicius Junior scoring a late equaliser from the penalty spot after Bayern had cancelled out the Brazilian’s first half opener through Leroy Sane and Harry Kane to lead 2-1.

On their own patch and with the home fans behind them, Madrid dominated the second leg, only narrowly edging possession but significantly outshooting the German visitors, who had 38-year-old captain Manuel Neuer to thank for keeping them in the tie. But there was nothing to separate the sides for more than an hour until Alphonso Davies, ironically heavily linked with a summer move to Madrid, chose the perfect time for his first ever Champions League goal.

The Canadian was looking for options in the box as he advanced with the ball down the left, before sharply cutting inside and firing an unstoppable drive into the far top corner with his weaker right foot. That lead looked like it only lasted a matter of minutes when Matthijs de Ligt turned the ball into his own net, only for a VAR intervention to spot a push on Joshua Kimmich and rule it out.

But Madrid kept pushing and eventually got their equaliser in the 88th minute. Joselu pounced on a rare Neuer mistake, spilling a weak shot from Vinicius. Incredibly, the substitute scored again in the second minute of stoppage time, turning in Antonio Rudiger’s square pass across goal. The offside flag initially went up but a long VAR check overturned the decision to let the goal stood.

In search of a second Champions League crown and first since 1997, Dortmund had booked their place in next month’s final 24 hours earlier with a 2-0 aggregate victory over Paris Saint-Germain.

Mats Hummels scored the only goal of the game in the French capital on Tuesday evening, adding to the strike from Niclas Fullkrug at home in the first leg. It means that Kylian Mbappe’s dream to win the Champions League with PSG before leaving this summer goes unfulfilled.

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