Nicolas Anelka finally lived up to his £23 million price tag as he proved the inspiration last night behind Real Madrid overcoming Bayern Munich 3-2 on aggregate to reach the Champions League final.
The former Arsenal striker has still to score in the league since joining Real in the summer, but he followed up his strike in Real's 2-0 first-leg win with a superb first-half header that stunned the German champions in Munich.
Real lost 2-1 on the night with goals from Carsten Jancker and Giovane Elber sandwiching Anelka's strike.
But it still wasn't enough to stop last year's beaten finalists following former champions Manchester United in falling to the Spanish outfit.
Jancker scored a spectacular goal for Bayern in the 12th minute before Anelka's strike, while Elber scored Munich's second in the 54th minute.
Madrid will now meet the winner of tonight's Valencia-Barcelona match in the May 24th final at the Stade de France in Paris.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, who guided the side to German Cup success on Saturday but looks like surrendering the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen, admitted that at 1-0 up he thought that Real were on the way out.
"We could well have been 2-0 up by the time Anelka scored and Real really were rocking," he said. "However, their goal rattled us completely and we didn't rediscover our early rhythm until midway through the second-half.
"I'm happy in the way that we have shown we have got guts this season after the way we lost last year's final (conceding two goals in the last minutes having led Manchester United 1-0)," he added.
However, Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer was rather less impressed by what he saw on the pitch. "Real deserved to go through because all our hard work could not cover up our limitations," he said.
Beckenbauer could not avoid aiming a sideswipe at the English referee Graham Poll, who generally looked to have had an excellent game. "Even if it didn't really make a huge difference the three officials were pretty non-professional," Beckenbauer said. "Here we are in a Champions League semi-final and we have a bunch of amateurs running the game." Bayern made four changes from the first leg. Star German midfielder Stefan Effenberg, recovered from a calf injury, moved into central midfield in place of Michael Tarnat. Sweden's Patrik Andersson and Ghanaian Samuel Kuffour slotted into central defence and Jancker was included up front with central defender Thomas Linke, while midfielders Thorsten Fink and Bosnian Hasan Salihamidzic were relegated to the substitutes bench.
For Real, Cameroonian Geremi and Julio Cesar came into the defensive line in place of the suspended Aitor Karanka and Michel Salgado. Brazilian Savio joined Anelka up front after Fernando Morientes injured his groin.
Jancker nearly had the ball in the net right after the start but he soon made amends. Helguera brought down Elber 25 metres from goal and Effenberg's free kick found Jens Jeremies, who floated the ball across goal to the right hand post.
Elber headed the ball back and Jancker hit a right-footed bicycle kick past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
Moments later, Kuffour turned the ball round a post and Jeremies was cautioned - the midfielder's nigtmare evening reached its nadir when he left the pitch in the second-half with a broken right collarbone.
Elber had the ball in the back of the net after Casillas parried a Mehmet Scholl shot but English referee Graham Poll ruled it out for offside.
Towards the end of the half, Bayern kept up the pressure with chances for Raul, Julio Cesar and Elber, though Bayern keeper Kahn was impressive, saving twice from Geremi and once from Anelka.
Nine minutes after the restart, Elber, who was booked in the firsthalf, made up for his flash of temper by getting the slightest of touches to Effenberg's free-kick after Steve McManaman committed a foul.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld brought on Salihamidzic with halfan-hour to go for Markus Babbel as the Germans chased the game. The switch was followed by a superb chance for the host side. Scholl's corner from the right found Jancker, whose effort was saved by Casillas. The ball then fell to Elber but his shot hit McManaman, then a post and away from danger. Effenberg appealed, believing the ball had hit McManaman's arm.
The hero on the night, however, was Anelka.
Bayern Munich: Kahn, Babbel (Salihamidzic 60), Lizarazu, Kuffour, Andersson, Scholl, Elber, Effenberg, Sergio, Jeremies (Fink 60), Jancker (Santa Cruz 79). Subs Not Used: Wessels, Weisinger, Tarnat, Linke. Booked: Jeremies, Elber, Lizarazu. Goals: Jancker 12, Elber 54.
Real Madrid: Casillas, Carlos, Redondo, Raul, McManaman (Baljic 90), Savio (Karembeu 81), Campo, Helguera, Anelka (Sanchis 89), Geremi, Julio Cesar. Subs Not Used: Bizzarri, Ognjenovic, Sestelo, Meca Garcia. Booked: Geremi, Savio. Goals: Anelka 31.
Referee: G Poll (England).
