Bayern Munich’s Brave Effort Not Enough for Win Against Real Madrid

Bayern Munich. CARLO ANCELOTTI. B-. Coach Ancelotti may not have had his tactics fine tuned at the beginning of the match, but he definitely had the Bavarian machine working expertly in the second half. Even after going down to 10-men, Ancelotti’s tactics and substitutions ensured that Bayern Munich were still largely the more dominant team on the match. The one flaw in his strategy would be his decision to leave Vidal on for as long as he did after the Chilean picked up a yellow card within the first five minutes. Regardless, had it not been for some awful officiating (warning: you’re going to read a lot about this), then this match certainly could have gone in favor of Ancelotti’s men.. Manager

B. Bayern Munich’s number one was once again fantastic between the sticks, much more so than the scoreline would suggest. He could do nothing to stop any of the goals scored against his team, and his excellent save on Dani Carvajal’s long strike was a thing of beauty–even though the officials seem to have missed that (not the only call they missed on the night).<p class=. GK. Bayern Munich. MANUEL NEUER

C-. Not the best game for the Austrian full-back, who could not create anything while attacking. His defensive work was slightly better, but Alaba had many chances to create a goal and wasted them all.. LB. Bayern Munich. DAVID ALABA

B-. Making a rapid recovery after picking up an injury over the weekend, Boateng put every ounce of his energy into this match. His marking on Ronaldo’s first goal could have been better, but his great goal line clearance showed his expert positioning and football knowledge.. CB. Bayern Munich. JEROME BOATENG

A. Having only been off crutches for a few days, it is all the more impressive the lion’s effort that Mats Hummels put into this match. The German held nothing back and defended expertly against the Madrid attack. He ended the match with four tackles, three aerial duels won, and four shots blocked. Bravo to you, Mats! No complaints can be made here.. CB. Bayern Munich. MATS HUMMELS

B. In his last ever Champions League appearance, Philipp Lahm did not disappoint. For the majority of the match, Der Kapitan kept Cristiano Ronaldo in his pocket, and it was not until the Portuguese man moved centrally that he finally started scoring. Lahm did his best to prevent Ronaldo’s opener, but alas there is a reason he has made his living playing as a full-back rather than a center-back. Lahm certainly deserved better for his final Champions League match, but that’s just the way it goes.. RB. Bayern Munich. PHILIPP LAHM

C. Unfortunately, Xabi Alonso’s final Champions League performance was not quite to the caliber of Lahm’s. He gave away possession far too often and looked a step behind the Madrid side whenever they attacked. Nevertheless, the classy Spaniard will be missed amongst the competition along with his German teammate.. CDM. Bayern Munich. XABI ALONSO

D. This was not at all the way Arturo Vidal would have wanted this match to go. After being booked five minutes into the game, it almost seemed inevitable that he would get sent off. The possibility turned into reality late in the game when he was wrongly shown a second yellow for a perfectly fine tackle on Marco Asensio. However, Vidal was absolutely poor tonight and perhaps should have made way for Joshua Kimmich or Thomas Muller at the half.. CDM. Bayern Munich. ARTURO VIDAL

C. Started out lively and seemed to be threatening but soon ran out of gas. Age seems to be attacking the Frenchman much more aggressively than his partner on the wing, Arjen Robben.. LM. Bayern Munich. FRANCK RIBERY

CAM. Bayern Munich. THIAGO . B-. Not poor, but at the same time, not great. Many Bayern fans would have hoped that this be the game Thiago proved he can be his brilliant best against the world’s top teams, but that was not the case. He still orchestrated the game well for the Bavarians, but when phenomenal has become the norm, it is hard to accept a simply “good” performance.

The “Flying Dutchman” constantly threatened the Real Madrid defense and was only denied a goal by Marcelo’s excellent goal-line clearance. Robben won the penalty that initially put Bayern ahead and never quit giving his best, even as the match went into extra-time.. RM. Bayern Munich. ARJEN ROBBEN. B+

Bayern Munich. ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI. B-. The Polish international expertly fired home from the penalty spot, but never seemed to be 100% in Madrid. With his shoulder injury undoubtedly taking its full effect, Lewandowski exited the game before the end of regulation and could do nothing as Real Madrid turned the game on its head in extra-time.. ST

Costa replaced Franck Ribery in the 70th minute and was largely ineffectual. It’s been a while since the Brazilian winger made any impact on a Bayern match, and it must really start to be questioned whether or not he has earned his playing time.. LM. Bayern Munich. DOUGLAS COSTA (70'). D

ST. Bayern Munich. THOMAS MULLER (74'). C+. After coming on for Xabi Alonso, Thomas Muller immediately went to work, tirelessly aggrevating the Madrid defense. His chested pass to Lewandowski eventually led to the crazy Madrid own-goal that sent the game into extra time, but Muller could do nothing up front on his own after Lewandowski was taken off.

CDM. Bayern Munich. JOSHUA KIMMICH (87'). N/A. Young Kimmich replaced Lewandowski with only a few minutes of regular time remaining. He will not receive a grade here, because of the situation he was thrown into. Down to 10-men, Bayern never had much hope of lasting the full 30 minutes of extra-time.

The most impactful individuals of the entire match were the four men wearing yellow and black. I’m not arguing that Bayern Munich would have definitely won had it not been for the poor officiating. What I am saying is that the officials made sure that Bayern basically had no chance to win this match. Two of Ronaldo’s goals were clearly offside, Lewandowski was called offside when he clearly was not, only a fool would say Vidal’s tackle leading to his second yellow was not clean, and the fact that Casemiro remained on the pitch for the whole match was a disgrace. The refereeing was atrocious and Bayern Munich suffered terribly for it. However, that is football, and it should take nothing away from the fact that Real Madrid played an excellent match. They deserved to go through just as much as Bayern Munich, and it is honestly a shame that the tie was affected by poor officiating as much as it was.. . . THE OFFICIALS. F