After Benzema scored, emotion poured out of him at once.
The French striker dropped to his knees and slid across the Allianz Arena turf, arms spread wide, celebrating in front of a stadium that had suddenly gone quiet.
In the away section, the several thousand Real Madrid supporters raised their arms and roared.
Before the match, many of them had thought a draw away to Bayern would already be a strong result.
After all, this was the Allianz Arena, Bayern were the defending champions of Europe, and Munich was never an easy place to survive.
Who could have expected Madrid to be two goals up before the first half had even properly settled?
It felt almost unreal.
📱 @MadridistaHQ ✔
2–0 at the Allianz inside ten minutes. I don't even know how to process this.
| ↳ 📱 @BlancoPulse
| Reply: Theodore goal, Theodore assist, Benzema nutmeg finish. Bayern are getting hit from every angle.
📱 @UCLMadridista ✔
We came here thinking a draw would be fine. Madrid said, "No, let's silence Munich instead."
| ↳ 📱 @NeutralUCLFan
| Reply: This tie is moving way too fast for Bayern.
On Real Madrid's bench, Zidane could finally celebrate freely.
A 2–0 lead was enough for Madrid to take control of the match, and this time, even Zidane could not fully hide his excitement.
He raised his arms and shouted toward the pitch, urging his players to stay focused even as the away bench erupted around him.
By contrast, Bayern head coach Hansi Flick looked deeply troubled.
He sighed helplessly and turned toward his assistant.
"That was probably the most difficult ten minutes I've had since taking charge of Bayern," Flick muttered. "Our players are being completely led around by Madrid."
After the restart, Bayern Munich had no other choice.
They had to attack.
Lewandowski passed the ball back to Kimmich in midfield, and Bayern's midfield general quickly moved it out to Sané on the right flank.
As one of Bayern's sharpest attacking weapons, Sané carried the hopes of more than seventy thousand Bayern fans inside the stadium.
Just as Sané prepared to drive forward, Marcelo immediately moved across to confront him.
But Marcelo had already passed his peak.
Once Sané started changing rhythm, the Brazilian full-back simply could not keep up.
Sané threw several stepovers in front of him, shifting his body left and right, waiting for Marcelo to lose balance for even half a second.
Then he seized the moment and pushed the ball forward, accelerating in a flash.
Against that burst of pace, Marcelo had no time to react.
If he had been five years younger, perhaps he could have matched Sané stride for stride. But the former best left-back in the world was now a veteran, and against a winger moving at full speed, the years showed.
There was nothing left in the tank for that kind of footrace.
After shaking off Marcelo, Sané continued sprinting forward.
On Madrid's bench, Zidane immediately began issuing instructions.
"Casemiro! Toni! Cover him!"
Casemiro and Kroos reacted quickly.
The moment they saw Marcelo beaten by Sané's pace, they both shifted across to close the space.
But Sané had already caught fire.
Even against the double team, he showed no fear. In just a few seconds, he used quick changes of rhythm to break away from both Madrid midfielders.
For that brief moment, Sané looked unstoppable.
In the blink of an eye, he had reached the top of Real Madrid's penalty arc.
With his ability, he could have taken the shot from there.
But Sané did not.
He chose to pass.
Just as his left foot was about to slide a through ball into the penalty area, Theodore suddenly arrived.
The next second, Theodore threw himself into a perfectly timed sliding tackle and cleanly knocked the ball away from Sané's feet.
One man guarding the pass against ten thousand.
Theodore's defensive ability was displayed to the fullest in that moment.
Sané had tried to carry Bayern's attack through Madrid's lines, but when Theodore stepped across, the road simply ended.
"Sané looks dangerous here—Theodore gets across!" Rob Palmer called. "What a tackle that is!"
"That is outstanding defending," Terry Gibson said. "Sané does brilliantly to beat Marcelo, Casemiro, and Kroos, but Theodore reads the pass before it happens. He times the slide perfectly and takes the ball cleanly."
"He scores, he creates, and now he stops Bayern's most dangerous attack," Rob added. "This is a complete performance already."
The second ball, however, still belonged to Bayern.
Kimmich brought it under control outside the box, lifted his head, and immediately saw Bayern's two aerial threats arriving inside the penalty area.
Goretzka and Lewandowski.
So Kimmich made the direct choice.
Bang!
He sent the ball quickly into Madrid's box.
The delivery was excellent as it dropped precisely in front of Lewandowski.
The Bayern striker rose into the air.
He overpowered Ramos and made firm contact with the header.
In aerial duels, Ramos was not Lewandowski's equal this time.
The Polish striker released all of his core strength into the attempt, sending the ball flying toward Real Madrid's goal like a cannonball.
Courtois reacted as quickly as he could.
On the goal line, the Belgian goalkeeper stretched, flew across, and somehow got his fingertips to the ball.
He pushed it away.
But the danger was not over.
Thomas Müller had already started moving.
The Bayern veteran rushed toward Madrid's goal, reading the rebound before anyone else could react.
With one clever toe-poke, he sent the ball back toward the net.
This time, Courtois was already on the ground.
There was nothing he could do.
The ball flew past him and into the goal.
Bayern had pulled one back.
2–1!
After scoring, Müller did not celebrate.
He immediately rushed into Madrid's goal, picked up the ball, and sprinted back toward the center circle.
One goal was not enough.
Bayern needed the equalizer.
"Müller scores! Bayern are back in it!" Rob shouted. "The Allianz Arena has life again!"
"That is classic Thomas Müller," Terry said. "Lewandowski's header is powerful, Courtois does brilliantly to keep it out, but Müller reacts quicker than everyone else. He doesn't need a clean shot. He just needs one little touch."
"Madrid's defenders switched off after the save," Rob added. "And against Müller, that is exactly the kind of mistake you cannot make."
The Allianz Arena erupted.
The silence that had followed Theodore and Benzema's goals was gone in an instant. Bayern's fans roared again, their belief rushing back with the ball in Müller's hands.
📱 @BayernZone ✔
MÜLLER! That's why you never write this team off. 2–1. We're alive.
| ↳ 📱 @MiaSanMiaTalk
| Reply: Lewandowski forced the save, Müller cleaned up. Now press them. Make Madrid panic.
📱 @MadridistaHQ ✔
That goal was too cheap. Courtois made the save and everyone just watched Müller run in.
| ↳ 📱 @BlancoPulse
| Reply: Wake up. Bayern are not Liverpool or Barça. Give them momentum and they'll punish us.
📱 @GermanFootballLive ✔
Bayern needed that badly. Müller doesn't celebrate, grabs the ball immediately. They know there's still work to do.
From that moment until the end of the first half, Madrid were going to face a huge test.
Bayern had their momentum back, and once the Allianz Arena started roaring behind them, the pressure became suffocating.
After Madrid restarted the match, Bayern's forwards immediately launched a high press.
Lewandowski, Coman, Müller, and Sané all sprinted with fierce intensity, trying to force Madrid into mistakes.
Under that kind of pressure, Madrid's midfield really did crack.
Casemiro, whose technical ability on the ball was the weakest among Madrid's midfielders, misjudged a pass and sent it straight toward Kingsley Coman.
Bayern had the ball again.
And this was a dangerous position!
"Madrid give it away!" Rob called. "Coman has it, and Bayern can attack immediately!"
"That is exactly what Zidane wanted to avoid," Terry said. "Casemiro is excellent defensively, but under pressure, he is not the player Madrid want receiving the ball with bodies around him."
After winning possession, Coman's confidence surged.
Without the slightest hesitation, he carried the ball toward Real Madrid's penalty area.
Theodore saw the danger and immediately used his speed to rush across, trying to block Coman's path before the Bayern winger could break into the box.
Coman knew very well how terrifying Theodore's defensive ability was.
So he did not try to take him on.
Without thinking, he passed the ball back toward Thomas Müller near the edge of the area.
Müller paused slightly, adjusted the ball into the best shooting position, and immediately lifted his foot to shoot!