Real Madrid News

Harry Kane says he blocked out everything after England team-mate Jude Bellingham appeared to try and put him off ahead of converting a penalty for Bayern Munich in their 2-2 draw with Real Madrid.

England striker Kane put Bayern 2-1 in front from the penalty spot, before a late Vinicius Junior spot-kick earned Real a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final in Munich.

Kane: I ignored Bellingham mumbling

On what his international team-mate Bellingham said to him before the penalty, Kane told TNT: “I don’t know what he was saying. I saw him mumbling something.

“Once I’m in that moment, I’m in my zone, trying to block everyone out. I’m sure he was saying something to try to put me off.”

Later in the mixed zone, Kane added: “In the moment, I didn’t know what he said but I spoke to him after and he said: ‘I know you’re going to go left of the keeper’.

“But it was nice for me because I saw the keeper go a little bit early and I put it away. Actually, on the pitch, I didn’t know what he said. I knew he was there but I didn’t know what he said. But I went left anyway.”

Kane’s penalty extended his season tally to 43 goals from as many games in his first season at Munich.

The 30-year-old admitted the campaign has not quite gone their way, losing the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen, but the big games are the reason he made the switch from Tottenham last summer.

“It’s been a good season so far. It’s just about the next game. Everything we’re fighting for this year is in this competition. It’ll be tough. We have to go there with full belief.

“I’m here for many years. It’s not a one-off year. At the start of the season, the expectation was to win trophies. The Champions League is the biggest one. If we can somehow get our hands on that one it would be an amazing season.

“These are the big games. The atmosphere today was incredible. This is why I want to be playing in these big games, these big moments.”

All to play for – Kane ready to battle again with Real Madrid

Madrid hit the front against the run of play in the 24th minute when Toni Kroos’ magnificent through-ball found Vinicius Jr, who tucked home coolly to give the away side a half-time lead.

Munich scored twice in four second-half minutes, firstly through Leroy Sane before Jamal Musiala went down in the penalty area and Kane sent Andriy Lunin the wrong way to put them in front.

Much like in the quarter-final against Manchester City, Madrid were not beaten and they came from behind once again courtesy of Vinicius’ penalty to leave it all square heading into the second leg, and while Kane said the result was “a little disappointing”, he has full belief they can qualify next week.

Kane said: “It’s a little disappointing, once we got 2-1 ahead we had two or three good chances, especially from set-plays but this is a Champions League semi-final, we expected a tough game.

“Real Madrid are one of the best teams in Europe and they can punish you with one or two actions like they did today so of course we are disappointed we didn’t get the win but it’s all to play for next week.”

The England captain added: “We started first 10 or 15 minutes on the front foot, we had a couple of chances there but then their goal came against the run of play.

“They built up the momentum and then we struggled to play our game but second half we came out with a higher intensity and deserved to get the two goals. We couldn’t get the third but all to play for.

“We will dust ourselves down, tough but we look forward to next week.”

Ancelotti: Real can play better

Meanwhile, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted his side can play better after they fought back to level the tie ahead of the second leg at the Bernabeu next week.

“Interesting game,” he said. “We could play better. We didn’t play our best. We had problems in the first half with a low block, too deep. We started to put pressure and it was much better.

“We tried to change something in the second half. We started really well and conceded two goals when our moment was good. The game was difficult at 2-1 down.

“Vinicius is starting to understand how it’s important for him to move inside the pitch and not only close to the line. He learned really well how to move.

“[The second leg] will be exciting. Open. You never know what will happen.”

What’s next?

Real Madrid will host Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday May 8. Kick-off 8pm.

Before then Bayern travel to Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Arena; kick-off 2.30pm. Real Madrid are at home to Cadiz in LaLiga on the same day; kick-off 3.15pm.

Watch Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Arena; kick-off 2.30pm.

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Match report as Champions League semi-final first leg finishes level between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid; Vinicius Junior opens scoring before Leroy Sane and Harry Kane net twice in four second-half minutes; Vinicius equalises with late penalty; second leg to be played on May 8

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Barcelona president Joan Laporta has called on the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to replay Sunday’s El Clasico encounter with Real Madrid if there is conclusive evidence that Lamine Yamal’s ‘phantom’ goal ought to have stood.

After Yamal’s strike was disallowed by VAR in Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat at Real Madrid, head coach Xavi Hernandez criticised the officiating in LaLiga, which does not use goal-line technology.

Yamal’s effort in the 28th minute was reviewed by VAR for several minutes, as it appeared to cross the line before Real keeper Andrey Lunin cleared it. The goal was disallowed and VAR awarded a corner to Barca.

Laporta’s statement on Monday opened: “As president of FC Barcelona, I would like to put across my dissatisfaction the day after the improper use of a tool such as VAR in one of the most important matches in the global schedule is marking our calendar.

“As you well know, I have never been a great defender of VAR because I believe that, as it is applied, it takes away football’s spontaneity. But what I am in favour of is that, now that we have it, we always use to avoid errors that can lead to unfair decisions.”

Vinicius Jr and Lucas Vazquez’s goals helped Real equalise twice after Andreas Christensen and Fermin Lopez had put Barca ahead.

Jude Bellingham scored the decider in the 91st minute, securing Real’s fourth consecutive win over the Catalan side. Second-placed Barca trail by 11 points, a deficit that will be difficult to overturn with six games remaining.

Laporta continued: “In this appearance I am making, I am not only bringing together the unhappiness of Barca fans with the management of VAR yesterday [Sunday], but also, I am highlighting the fact that even though it is a tool that has been used for a while, it continues to create confusions with contradictory criteria according to matches and teams.

“Barcelona would also like to highlight the power of our competition and that we are successful and followed by millions of fans around the world, but we cannot be exempt from criticism when the use of VAR undermines our product.

Laporta’s lengthy statement added: “We understand the difficulty faced by officials, but it is for that reason that such tools exist (like VAR) which should help the competition be fairer and not the other way around. Yesterday, there were several debatable incidents but amongst all of them there is one that is crucial and can change the result of the game.

“I am referring to the ‘phantom goal’ by Lamine. As a club we want to be sure about what happened, and it is for that reason that from FCB we will make an immediate request to the Technical Refereeing Committee at the Spanish Football Federation for a comprehensive collection of footage and audio from the incident.

“If once this documentation has been analysed, the club understands that an error was made in the revision of the incident, we will take all available measure to reverse the situation, without discounting, obviously, any necessary legal action.

“If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, we will move ahead and we do not discount requesting that the game be replayed, just as has happened in another game in Europe due to a VAR error. Finally, I would like to underline that despite our focus on this incident, we also disagree with various others that occurred during the game, and that could have been reviewed using VAR.”

The game Laporta refers to took place in January, when it was announced that a Belgian Pro League match between Anderlecht and Genk would be replayed in full due to a video assistant referee (VAR) error.

The country’s disciplinary council for professional football ruled in favour of a Genk appeal on the grounds of a misapplication of the laws of the game.

Laporta hopes that decision, believed to be the first of its kind in European football, has set a precedent after an initial ruling by the refereeing body that there would be no replay was challenged on appeal by Genk, whose request for another game was upheld by the senior group.

LaLiga is the only top five league in Europe not to use goal-line technology. After Barcelona fans criticised LaLiga for lacking the tech, chief Javier Tebas responded on X by sharing several reports of past incidents where the technology was shown to be inaccurate saying, “no comment”.

Barcelona, who were knocked out of the Champions League last week, host Valencia in LaLiga on April 29.

Xavi told reporters, when asked about the controversial events at the Santiago Bernabeu: “We can’t control them. These are refereeing actions. I think the team is doing very well, we competed very well, we were better than Real on their own pitch and I think we deserved the three points in every way.

“My feeling today is one of maximum injustice. Goes without saying, everyone saw it,” he added. “My feeling is that today’s match was not fair.”

Jude Bellingham struck a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Real Madrid inched closer to a record-extending 36th LaLiga crown with a stunning 3-2 comeback victory over title rivals Barcelona in El Clasico.

Real twice fought back from a goal down before Bellingham smashed in the winner at the far post to beat the champions for a fourth successive time.

The result sees Madrid establish a potentially crucial 11-point lead over over Barca at the top of LaLiga with just six games remaining.

Barca took the lead in the sixth minute when Andreas Christensen headed in following a corner after Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin failed to clear the cross from his six-yard-box.

Vinicius Jr equalised 12 minutes later from the penalty spot after Lucas Vazquez was fouled inside the box.

Wasteful Real dominated the second half but missed several chances and allowed substitute Fermin Lopez to give the visitors the lead again in the 69th minute from a rebound.

But Real would hit back for the second time as Vazquez lashed in a volley four minutes later.

Real kept pushing for another goal and their perseverance paid off in added time when Vazquez raced down the right channel and crossed to Bellingham, who fired in the winner to spark jubilant scenes at the Bernabeu.

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