After a largely drama-free edition of the Champions League semi-finals, we get an already drama-filled Madrid Derby Champions League final. This will be fun.
It almost didn't happen, though, as the second leg of Manchester City vs. Real Madrid was nearly as much of a snoozer as the first leg. Gareth Bale supplied one piece of entertainment when his shot/cross/thing hit Fernando's leg and then went past Joe Hart and into the net.
What a huge goal for Gareth Bale (via @FOXSoccer) https://t.co/FF4cSTcXo4 https://t.co/TkZyXhvm9e
— SB Nation Soccer (@SBNationSoccer) May 4, 2016
Ans that was pretty much that, except for a late moment when Madrid keeper Keylor Navas appeared to go down injured when Madrid were out of subs, which had us hoping against hope that we'd see Ronaldo have to play the last few minutes in goal. It was not to be, though, and the game ended devoid of much suspense.
City were awful and Madrid took advantage of that by being just a little bit less awful. For a good part of the match, City decided to chase the game by giving the ball to Yaya Toure near midfield and letting him take 10 minutes to dribble down to Madrid's third. It was like when novelists try to build tension with 60 pages of useless character backstory before the plot of the book even starts (*cough* Frankenstein *cough*). Now the plot has kicked in and the book gets an exciting Madrid derby climax.
We're sure it will be worth the wait (it always is), but a little less backstory next time, OK, UEFA script writers? We just want to see the action
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
