Real Madrid did the impossible last night.
The Spanish giants were minutes away from being eliminated from the Champions League by Manchester City only to score twice in the final minutes of the game to take it to extra-time.
Riyad Mahrez’s 73rd minute goal had put City two goals clear at the Santiago Bernabeu only for a brace from Rodrygo Goes in the 90th and 91st minutes to draw the two sides level on aggregate.
Then, in extra time, Karim Benzema stepped up to win it for Madrid with a calmly taken penalty. After that, all hell broke loose at the Bernabeu as Madrid secured their place in Paris.
That’s where they’ll face Liverpool in the Champions League final on May 28th. The game will take place at the Stade de France.
The Reds, who knocked Villarreal out in similarly dramatic fashion the previous evening at La Ceramica, will be out for revenge. Madrid beat them in the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv.
Los Blancos won that game 3-1, with Gareth Bale scoring two goals. Karim Benzema scored Madrids other while Sadio Mane scored Liverpool’s sole goal.
But that wasn’t the only storyline to come out of that summer night in Ukraine. Then-Madrid captain Sergio Ramos injured Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in controversial fashion, forcing him to come off on the night and hampering his efforts to help the Egyptian national team succeed at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Soon after it was confirmed that Madrid had beaten City and would be facing Liverpool in this year’s final, Salah made sure to send a message on Twitter. “We have a score to settle,” he wrote. It appears that he and his teammates are out for revenge.
We have a score to settle. pic.twitter.com/MWxfhIIW78
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) May 4, 2022
