Diaz, Kane give Bayern Champions League edge at Real Madrid

Luis Diaz and Harry Kane scored the goals that gave dominant Bayern Munich a crucial 21 Champions League quarterfinal first leg win away to Real Madrid on Tuesday Kylian Mbappes strike 16 minutes from time gave record 15time winners Real a lifeline at their Bernabeu home in a gripping battleVincent Kompanys side arguably the strongest team in Europe this season produced a masterclass in the first half and could have been several goals ahead Instead they had only one from Diaz which Kane added to after the interval but French superstar Mbappes goal kept Alvaro Arbeloas side in the tieIts a shame it wasnt 20 at the end to be completely honest said Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who made several good saves in the second half as Madrid ramped up the pressure You know how dangerous Real Madrid are we saw that again today They had plenty of chances and couldve scored more First up were happy about the victory here away from home but itll be a tough challenge back in Munich Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger said that Mbappes goal had kept the tie openFor me the two goals we conceded were gifts and in the second half we needed more Rudiger told Movistar I think were alive everything is open with that goal from Mbappe I think we had many chances to score goals but in the end this is how it is The rounds glamour fixture was a European classic a record 29th time these heavyweights have faced each other in the competition Bayern flew out of the blocks and Konrad Laimers rasping effort narrowly over the bar showed that Kompanys side had come to the Spanish capital to attackAfter nine consecutive matches against Madrid without a win Bayern were determined to put an end to that streak and show why many consider them favourites to lift the trophy this season Bayern should have taken the lead through defender Dayot Upamecano who fluffed his lines from pointblank range after Kane cushioned the ball into his path allowing Alvaro Carreras to hack the ball off the lineMadrid were largely pinned back as Bayern dominated the ball but the hosts sought to send through rapid strikers Mbappe and Vinicius Junior on the counter with Neuer saving from both Madrids defensive work was nearly undone by a moment of madness from 18yearold midfielder Thiago Pitarch starting in place of Jude Bellingham whose poor back pass under pressure was straight to Serge Gnabry in front of goal but goalkeeper Andriy Lunin deflected the Germans shot behindSlick BayernBayern toyed at times with Real who ceded possession far too often and their opening goal was a slick combination play which caught the hosts on their heels Gnabry exchanged a onetwo with Kane and pushed the ball in behind Trent AlexanderArnold for the Madrid defenders former Liverpool teammate Diaz to reach and stroke home past Lunin in the 41st minute Kane who was a doubt to start because of an ankle problem did not seem fully fit but made an even bigger impact less than a minute into the second half Olise cut the ball back to him on the edge of the box and Kane fizzed a curling effort into the bottom corner to double Bayerns leadIt was his 11th Champions League strike this season trailing only Mbappe on 14 and his 49th goal across all competitions Vinicius had a fine chance to pull one back for Real when Upamecano badly underhit a header back to Neuer but the Brazilian sliced his shot into the sidenetting Neuer made a brilliant save to thwart Mbappe once more and left with the man of the match trophy With Bellingham on as a substitute Madrid stepped up a level and eventually found the net with AlexanderArnold guiding a low cross to the far post where Mbappe beat Neuer smashing home off the crossbar after 74 minutes Bayern angrily roared back with Kane volleying wide as they tried to restore their advantage but instead they take a slender lead back to Bavaria for next Wednesdays second legThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever