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| First goal of the night by Ramos |
Real Madrid moved a step closer to a 10th European Cup as they blew away
defending champions Bayern Munich to reach the final of the Champions
League on a record-breaking night at the Allianz Arena.
Holding a 1-0
lead from the first leg of their semifinal, a first-half brace from
Sergio Ramos and two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo -- which took his
season's Champions League tally to a record 16 -- handed Real a
comfortable 4-0 win that takes them to the Estadio da Luz to face either
Chelsea or city rivals Atletico on May 24.
The only
negative for Real on a night when they took their goal tally in this
season's Champions League to 37 -- another record -- was a booking for
Xabi Alonso that rules the midfielder out of the final.
Both
teams made just one change from the first leg with Gareth Bale
replacing Isco for Real and Thomas Muller coming in for Rafinha for
Bayern.
There was a minute's silence before proceedings
began in honour of former Barcelona coach, and Pep Guardiola's former
assistant, Tito Vilanova and former Real manager Vujadin Boskov who both
passed away last week.
Both sides looked nervous at the
outset and it was not surprising that the first chance came from an
error as Manuel Neuer came out of his area to head away but could only
find Bale who fired over an empty net from distance.
Angel
Di Maria fired a speculative effort over the bar shortly after and it
was not long before the visitors took the lead in the 16th minute.
Dante
did well to cut out a Karim Benzema chance but from the resulting
corner Luka Modric swung in the ball and an unmarked Ramos headed
powerfully home.
The Germans were now looking at an uphill
task and that became nearly impossible four minutes later when rampant
Real had their second.
Toni Kroos fouled Bale on the right
around 25 yards out and Di Maria's delivery was flicked on by Pepe to
the edge of the six-yard box, where Ramos met the ball with a diving
header to double the lead.
Real predictably now seemed
quite happy to sit back and hit their opponents on the counter and
Ronaldo took advantage in the 34th minute.
Di Maria spread
the ball right to Benzema, who freed Bale and the Welshman and Ronaldo
were two-on-one with Jerome Boateng. Bale slipped the ball across to the
Portuguese and he calmly slotted below Neuer.
Everything
was going perfectly for the Spaniards but they suffered a blow in the
38th minute when Alonso deservedly went in the book for a clumsy
challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Tempers were clearly
beginning to fray as Bayern swarmed round Iker Casillas' goal without
really troubling the goalkeeper and Franck Ribery may have been lucky to
stay on after an apparent slap to the face of Daniel Carvajal was not
spotted by referee Pedro Proenca just before half time.
Guardiola
removed Mandzukic at the interval and brought on Javi Martinez and it
was Bayern who had the first chance after the break as Ramos was forced
to head over his own bar under pressure.
The second half
was a far more subdued affair and despite Arjen Robben curling an effort
wide and Ribery bringing a save from Casillas, neither side looked like
scoring in the first 15 minutes.
Ronaldo headed over the
bar but neither side showed much of a threat in the closing stages as
Carlo Ancelotti brought off Ramos, nullifying the danger of a yellow
card that would cost him his place in Lisbon.
Ronaldo
completed the rout in the final minute with a low free-kick from 18
yards as Real completely outclassed the Bundesliga champions.
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