Inevitable Real Madrid continue Champions League love affair
Joselu's late double fired the record 14-time winners into the Wembley final on June 1st, just as it seemed Bayern had set up another all-German battle as in 2013. Madrid's Jude Bellingham will face his former team Borussia Dortmund in search of the 15th, after 'Los Blancos' returned from what he described as "dead and buried" to triumph.
"We saw ourselves in the final and now I'm lost for words," said shellshocked Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. "Madrid are immortal," wrote Spanish newspaper Marca. "The eternal miracle," proclaimed another capital publication, AS. Madrid will be firm favourites to extend their dominance in Europe after reaching their sixth Champions League final in the last 11 years and winning five of the last 10.
Regardless of whether they are outplayed, as by Manchester City in the quarter-finals, or on the verge of elimination, as against Bayern, Madrid so often find a way where other teams would wither. Alphonso Davies' second-half strike had Bayern dreaming of a 2013 final rematch against Bundesliga rivals Dortmund, but journeyman forward Joselu intervened in the dying embers of the match.
"It's happened again - it's happened so often," marvelled Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti, a four-time winner of the trophy as a coach. "Fans who push us on, a fantastic stadium, players who never stop believing - it's simply something magical."
Madrid have enjoyed many spectacular comebacks over the years but the last time they lifted the trophy, in 2022, their run to the final defied belief at every step. Two goals down on aggregate against Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16, an 18-minute Karim Benzema hat-trick sent them through.
Despite trailing Chelsea 3-0 in the semi-final second leg, a majestic Luka Modric pass and R
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