Nerveless Neuer sets up Munich final party

It was meant to be Barcelona against Real Madrid in a dream Champions League final on May 19 but instead 2012 has become the year of the brave as Bayern Munich, just 24 hours after Chelsea had recorded a remarkable victory in the Nou Camp, went to Real and beat them on penalties.

Perhaps in Germany they will say it was fate; the final is after all being staged in Munich. But for all the romantics who pencilled in the date as the ultimate El Clasico, it has come as something of a shock.

The bare facts are that Bayern won it with typical German resolve in a shoot-out that Jose Mourinho’s Real fluffed in front of their own fans.

They home team crumbled as they missed their first two kicks — first Ronaldo (who had already scored twice in the game) seeing his effort batted away by the heroic Manuel Neuer’s stunning save. Neuer repeated the trick, saving Kaka’s effort.

Gomez, David Alaba and Phillip Lahm scored for Bayern and although Iker Casillas made a fine save from Toni and Xabi Alonso found the net, there was another horrendous miss to come for Real; Sergio Ramos firing wildly over the bar.

It was left to the bullish Bastian Schweinsteiger to fire the winning penalty and set up frantic celebrations in the Bernabeu — and, of course, a final against Chelsea that could prove as unpredictable as the rest of this year’s competition.

Maybe we should have spotted the clues long before Schweinsteiger swung his boot. After all Mourinho had stated on the eve of this tie that he had a disappointing record in Champions League semi-finals; he may have won the tournament with both Inter Milan and Porto but had also lost three times at the last hurdle he reminded anyone who would listen — twice to Liverpool during his Chelsea days and once to Barca only last year.

Given that extra motivation, allied to news that Barcelona were already out and Chelsea awaited him in the final, it seemed almost impossible The Special One would mess up this time.

But given the way this tournament has gone in the last nine months — early exits for Manchester United and City, APOEL’s arrival in the quarter-finals, Marseille’s win over Inter — nobody was taking anything for granted. All the predictions last September, for instance, had been of a Barca v Real Madrid final, Ronaldo against Messi, Mourinho against Guardiola; so Chelsea’s remarkable triumph against the champions must have made Bayern fully aware that any result was possible in the Bernabeu.

Not that any such upset looked possible after 14 minutes, by which time the unstoppable Ronaldo had scored twice to put his side 3-2 ahead on aggregate. The first was a sixth minute penalty, given for a handball by David Alaba from an Angel di Maria volley; the second a cool finish when put through by Mesut Ozil.

Alaba was booked when giving away the penalty for the first goal which meant he would miss the final if Bayern qualified so it was hardly surprising the German side looked deflated; but this year there have been so many twists and turns that nobody needed to stay low for long.

In fact, Bayern got themselves back in contention as a remarkably open match raced from one of the field to the other with both defences looking likely to crumble under the pressure of so many talented attackers.

The key moment came after 27 minutes as Pepe brought down Mario Gomez with a messy challenge and Arjen Robben dispatched his penalty with just as much cool as Ronaldo had mustered a few minutes earlier.

After the hype, tension and action of the Nou Camp on Tuesday, it seemed impossible this match could follow such drama; but it did just that in a breathless evening that seemed to whiz by at a remarkable rate.

There were 14 attempts on goal in the first half hour alone, with Benzema, Robben and Gomez all going close and the second half showed few signs of slowing down until the final 15 minutes when, with Bayern needing just a goal to go through, both teams began to fade.

Extra-time itself was a tired and nervy affair. Penalties were required; and it was Bayern who completed a remarkable season of European football. After everything that has happened, who on earth would dare to predict the result on May 19?

REAL MADRID: Casillas 7, Arbeloa 6, Sergio Ramos 5, Pepe 6, Marcelo 6, Alonso 7, Khedira 6, Di Maria 6 (Kaka 75; 6), Ozil 6 (Granero 111), Ronaldo 8, Benzema 7 (Higuain 106).

BAYERN MUNICH: Neuer 8, Lahm 7, Boateng 6, Badstuber 6, Alaba 6, Gustavo 6, Schweinsteiger 7, Ribery 7 (Muller 95), Kroos 6, Robben 8, Gomez 7.

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).