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Unión Berlin experienced the Champions League, Real Madrid, the Bernabéu and the Jude Bellingham effect in the same afternoon, which they thought they had decoded, until they realized that was exactly the trick: if you believe, the goal of endurance Having achieved this, the case is something more. And there, at 93.20, 100 seconds from the limit, pure Real Madrid territory, with this new owner called Bellingham, he saw that it had all been an illusion, lasting more than 90 minutes but just as fleeting . A long-range shot from Valverde, a rebound, a goal from the Englishman half a meter from the line and the chorus of “Hey Jude” in the stands.
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Arrizabalaga, Alaba, Nacho (Fran Garcia, min. 73), Rüdiger, Lucas Vázquez, Jude Bellingham, Modric (Brahim Diaz, min. 80), Camavinga (Kroos, min. 65), Aurelien Tchouameni (Federico Valverde, min. 65 ). ), Rodrygo and Joselu
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F. Ronnow, Danilho Doekhi, Diogo Leite, Bonucci (Paul Jäckel, min. 80), Alex Kral, Aissa Laidouni (Brenden Aaronson, min. 66), Juranovic, Robin Gosens, Lucas Tousart (Aljoscha Kemlein, min. 83), Kevin Behrens (Volland, Min. 66) and Sheraldo Becker (David Datro Fofana, Min. 80)
Goals 1-0 min 93: Jude Bellingham.
referee Espen Eskås
Yellow cards Lucas Tousart (min. 1) and Aurelien Tchouameni (min. 36)
In the first Champions League game of the season, Madrid shook off the shock, like many other evenings shortly before the last.
By then, the Unión, which entered the stadium of the 14 European Cups with the intention not to be carried away by the legends, had set the tone of the duel to the soundtrack of 4,000 enthusiasts who kept up the song for ten minutes after the start. Disappointment. In the first act, Madrid succumbed to the Unión more than the other way around.
The Germans qualified for the Champions League by finishing fourth in the Bundesliga with the least compromised defense. They brought no surprises to the Bernabéu: the same five-man defense. If anything, it was the novelty of the foreman, the old Leonardo Bonucci, who made his debut at Unión on the afternoon that Unión debuted in the European Cup. After 12 seasons at Juventus, he found himself isolated, outside the team and expelled from the place where he had dominated for more than a decade. And at the age of 36 he was rescued by Urs Fischer’s team, who fish in the fishing grounds of footballers, driven by the desperation to prove that they had made a mistake by forgetting them somewhere else. They were even close to hiring Isco.
There Bonucci was again at the Bernabéu, in the defense center of a newly arrived team that wanted to assert itself beyond the initial lineup. They gathered far back, supported by that line of five, with Juranovic extending the wall to the right and Goesens to the left. And Madrid suffocated.
He went from side to side without hitting the gap, without surprising the middle. Neither Modric nor Camavinga nor Tchouameni invented it. Bonucci calmly observed the traffic jam from his hiding place, arguing from time to time with Bellingham, who could not find a way to create space either by running forward or by scouting a little further back, away from the Italian. Madrid were a boring team that could barely see Joselu’s head. He fended off crosses from Lucas, Bellingham and a corner from Modric, all of which went wide. And he was just a few inches away from connecting another one. That was all. At this speed, only the height of the nine was surprising.
The passage through the dressing room caused a small electric shock in Madrid. The German trench was the same, but Ancelotti had got his men to shake it a little more forcefully and quickly. Rodrygo appeared off the wing, where many of his early attempts had disappeared, and the ball passed more between him, Modric, Bellingham and Joselu. And they moved on, and with them the Bonucci line that gave Madrid hope.
Lucas started the attack with a ball behind the defense, from which you couldn’t see anything until then. Rodrygo caught up with him as he ran and slammed him into Ronnow’s body. The play went back to Lucas and also to Rodrygo who hit the post and Camavinga went out immediately. It wasn’t the night for Rodrygo, who was tying the ball up in the small area when another pass from Lucas fell to him and he found himself alone in front of the goalkeeper. And then another that got caught in his spur.
Ancelotti brought on Kroos and Valverde for Tchouameni and Camavinga and managed to clear the game with better head and more courage. By this point, the Union had already run out of steam and was forced to watch the waves crash into them. But he fought back. Especially Joselu.
The striker, who made his Champions League debut at the age of 33, collected 11 shots without reward, including those that hit the post, those that narrowly missed and those that came from the defense and even from a teammate which was misplaced causing chaos in the area. Nothing. Until Bellingham saw the light again. As usual.
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