Craig Burley wonders if clinching the Bundesliga title so early led to Bayern's uneven performance in the first leg against Real Madrid. Substitute Marco Asensio's second-half strike proved decisive as Real Madrid held on at the Allianz Arena for a big win.
Bayern Munich lost two players to injury in the first half on Wednesday en route to their 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in their Champions League semifinal first leg, as both Arjen Robben and Jerome Boateng limped off.
The news got worse for Bayern after the final whistle as manager Jupp Heynckes also confirmed that Javi Martinez left the game in the second half because of a concussion.
Robben, 34, sat down on the pitch after just six minutes with an apparent muscle problem. Martinez motioned to the bench for a substitution, and Thiago Alcantara came on to replace the Dutchman.
Sport Bild reported Robben was the first Bayern player to leave the stadium, saying only "Wait, morning," for an update on his injury as he departed.
Joshua Kimmich thought Robben's absence affected Bayern's tactics, saying after the game: "It was a shame that Robben came off so early. He's someone who draws players to him and that creates space for me."
Arjen Robben could not continue.
Kimmich was still able to give Bayern the lead without Robben on the pitch, but no long afterward Boateng also headed gingerly to the tunnel after picking up a groin injury in the 34th minute. Niklas Sule came on for Boateng, leaving Bayern with just one substitute for the rest of the game.
Heynckes was more optimistic about Robben's prognosis for the second leg than he was about Boateng.
On Robben's injury he said, "we hope that it is not so bad," but on Boateng he added: "It's a muscular problem in Jerome's case, he'll probably miss out."
Heynckes also said Martinez "suffered a blow to his temple and was woozy, but said he would wait for tests on all three players on Thursday.
Real Madrid also suffered a setback of their own after scoring twice to turn the game around, as Dani Carvajal fell to the pitch while clutching his hamstring and was replaced by Karim Benzema.
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Source: espn.co.uk