How did Bayern Munich snatch defeat from jaws of victory against Real Madrid?

Bayern Munich ended up suffering agony late in the game

With just under a quarter of an hour left in regulation time, Thomas Tuchel made the right decision to take off the struggling Leroy Sané. However, replacing him with Kim min-jae didn’t inspire confidence. Bringing on a defender who had struggled in the first leg for a laboring attacker just didn’t add up. This first roll of the dice from the coach was a sign that he was going to rely on defending deep to get the team over the line. Based on how the game had evolved and in hindsight, bringing on Mathys Tel to play on the right flank would have been a better decision. The French forward would have provided Bayern a strong outlet in the attack and helped Joshua Kimmich tackle Vinicius Jr.

The writing was on the wall for Bayern when Tuchel made the bold decision to bring off Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala in the 84th minute. Six minutes plus added time was more than enough time for Real Madrid to come up with another historic comeback in the Champions League.

It was as if Tuchel wasn’t aware of what Real Madrid had done to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium after Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, and Jack Grealish had left the field. Backing his players to clinch another late comeback win, Carlo Ancelotti switched into full Jason Vorhees mode and went for the kill. His machete came in the form of 34-year-old journeyman Joselu who scored twice in the space of three minutes. Fingers can be pointed at Neuer for his goalkeeping blunder which gifted Joselu with the equaliser but his five previous saves were what kept Bayern in the match up to that point.