Real Madrid snatch 2-1 comeback win at Bayern

Munich : Holders Real Madrid came from a goal down to snatch a precious 2-1 victory at wasteful Bayern Munich on Wednesday and carry a considerable advantage into their Champions League semi-final second leg in Spain.

Real, eyeing a third straight title, needed a 44th-minute equaliser by Marcelo against the run of play to cancel out Joshua Kimmich’s opener after Bayern, chasing three trophies this season, had missed a hatful of chances.

A quick break allowed Real substitute Marco Asensio to beat Sven Ulreich with a fine effort and grab the winner in the 57th minute.

There was more bad news for Bayern with Germany defender Jerome Boateng suffering a suspected adductor muscle injury that could rule him out for the final part of the season and the World Cup.

The result was identical to last year’s quarter-final first leg between the teams before Real won the return game as well on the way to the first successful Champions League title defence.

“We are satisfied with the result but this does not count for much,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane told reporters. “You can never feel absolutely safe in football.

“We won tonight and I think we played well, we got a good result after a hard game.”

Liverpool crushed AS Roma 5-2 in the other semi-final first leg on Tuesday.

Bayern, who had lost only one of their last 22 home games in the competition, had only themselves to blame and were punished for their profligacy.

They almost scored after 25 seconds when Real defender Dani Carvajal failed to clear properly in a furious and physical start to the match.