Real Madrid 2-2 Bayern Munich
In the fist minute, Bayern was able to tick-tack their way through the Real defense for a nice early look that the keeper was able to swat away, but they spent the rest of the 1st half trying hard to finagle their way into the Real defense (yeah that felt like it wasn't gonna work). Real shook loose on a counter, found Vini up front (on a beautiful pass!), and he was able to sneak it past the keeper (who was stuck in the awkward position of needing to come out decisively right away) for the opening goal. Real held the 1-0 lead at halftime and while Bayern hadn't been able to get much offense going, it definitely felt like there were going to be more goals. Sure enough, Sane connected pretty soon after on one the most cold blooded rips I've ever seen--dude, there was no goal to shoot at, that was like Gretzky level sharpshooting! Quickly Bayern was able to get the penalty call (good call) and took the lead when Kane stuck the PK. But Madrid clawed back the draw on a PK (good call) and it is level going back to Spain.
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Paris St. Germaine
Tight game. Dortmund scored the only goal fairly early in the game when Fullkrug was able to haul down a long pass over the defense and then drill a low line drive right at the keeper's legs (amazing that he was able to keep that rip so low). The 2nd half was fun, both sides had numerous chances on goal. Neither team scored but, man, PSG hit the post like 20 times, including a sequence where Mbappe hit the post, then PSG gathered the rebound and Hakimi hit the other post seconds later. Fun stuff, but the lack of scoring worked to Dortmund's advantage.
Paris St Germaine 0-1 (agg 0-2) Borussia Dortmund
Oh man, PSG hit the post like 12 more times in this one! Dortmund dug in, played minimal offense, but they were able to connect on a corner just after halftime and the match felt over to me. PSG played with ferocity--and the goal posts will need a new paint job after all that was chipped off from them--but they just couldn't find the scoreboard. There was a controversial (I suppose) no-call late in the match, but I thought it was a 50/50 call and it was so late in the game, it's hard to imagine it would've made a difference. PSG had the firepower but they just couldn't summon it in these two matches with Dortmund.
Real Madrid 2-1 (agg 4-3) Bayern Munich
Wow, what a finish! Good back and forth action, though I thought Real was generally the more dangerous looking side. The goal scoring didn't get going until well into the 2nd half when Bayern was able to push a long ball forward, catching the defense off-guard, Davies finished with a move to the inside then a rip to the far post. Felt like that was gonna be that, but...then in the 88th minute, Real scored on a rebound of a rather innocuous-looking save of a searching lob towards goal, but just like that the game was tied and what had felt like a Bayern victory lap was heading toward extra time. But...then in the 90th minute, Real found pay dirt again, but it was called off-side...until it wasn't (the right call) and the goal was allowed and now Real was back on top. Then deep in extra time Bayern scored again but it, too, was called off-side (the wrong call!) but unlike Real's goal, Bayern wasn't saved by the replay and Real is heading to the Champions League final. This reminded me of the 1999 (1998?) final where Bayern went up 1-0 on Man U early, then the rest of the match was a bit of a snooze until the final 10 mins or so when Man U cranked up the intensity and managed to net 2 goals in extra time to win it all. That was a crazy finish and so was this.
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