Trailing 2-0 on home turf, reigning European champions Real Madrid achieved a new comeback by beating Borussia Dortmund (5-2) on Tuesday during the 3rd day of the Champions League, thanks in particular to a hat-trick from Vinicius.
The King of Europe never dies. Especially not in front of his fans, who have seen his team come back from nowhere too often to stop believing in it.
On its legendary Santiago Bernabéu pitch, the Spanish giant with 15 Champions League titles had been a shadow of itself for 45 minutes, finding itself 2-0 down at half-time, before once again turning the tide of the match under the impetus of its Brazilian star Vinicius Junior, who scored a hat-trick (62nd, 86th, 90th+3).
Borussia, efficient and united, thought they would pull off their feat against the Madrid club and its armada of stars, but, as in the final last June (2-0), and like so many others before them, they ended up suffering the law by completely exploding in the face of the Merengue attacks.
– Mbappé and Vinicius revi
ve Real –
“This is how Madrid wins,” sang the Madrid fans, accustomed to seeing their players achieve this type of feat on the European stage for years.
First showered at the half-hour mark on two perfectly executed German collective moves concluded by the Dutchman Donyell Malen (30th, 1-0), well served in pivot by the former Rennes player Serhou Guirassy, ??then the English hopeful Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (34th), the Merengues then seemed to see the crisis looming, with a second defeat in a row in C1, four days before the Clasico against FC Barcelona.
But Carlo Ancelotti’s men, led by a lively and doubly decisive Kylian Mbappé despite the accusations of rape made by the Swedish press after his recent trip to Stockholm, and above all by an electric Vinicius, demonstrated once again that they had enough talent to get out of any situation.
“We know that when we are at home, with our fans, anything can happen,” said Vinicius, who was voted man of the match on the Movistar channel. “We went in (at half-time) very
calm and we listened to the coach, we only said one thing: ‘If we scored the first goal, we would come back again’, and we made another comeback, thanks to the fans and the whole team who gave everything,” he added.
The Brazilian winger, initially messy and then brilliant, proved why he was the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday, with a hat-trick in the space of thirty minutes (62nd, 86th, 90th+3), while the French striker, clumsy in the final move despite several chances (9th, 70th, 80th, 81st) turned into a passer for the German Antonio Rdiger (60th), who got Real back into the game.
Checked by opposing goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, saved by his bar twice in front of Rodrygo and Bellingham in the first half (37th), Mbappé was also involved in the equalizing goal by “Vini”, confirming his return to form in terms of sport.
The number 9 of the Merengue will have a new opportunity to confirm this on Saturday for the first Clasico of his career against FC Barcelona.
Source: Burkina Information Agency