Just ridiculous. Just Real Madrid. The team that appear to own this competition, that have some mystical hold over the trophy they refuse to let go of, are in the final again because, well, of course they are. Late on another wild, magical night here, the Santiago Bernabéu launched into a familiar chant. “That’s how Madrid win,” it goes. Again and again and again, each time more epic, more absurd than the last, this team a force that cannot be contained. The closer you think you are, the further away it is, as Bayern Munich found like so many others before them.
Thomas Tuchel’s team had held on, survived a storm, and scored, Alphonso Davies smashing in a superb shot to give them a 1-0 lead, 3-2 on aggregate, and a foothold in the final. They should have scored again, at last killing off the team that just will not die, but Harry Kane sent a late chance into the side-netting and Kim Min-jae then headed against the bar from three yards. Still, Wembley was so near. Less than three minutes plus stoppages remained but, as tends to happen here, it turned out to be a lifetime, much of which they will surely spend wondering what happened.
