Real get the second half underway. Bayern have made a change, sending on Raphaël Guerreiro in place of Leon Goretzka.

Half-time postbag. “Tuchel, reportedly, doesn’t have much faith in the defensive prowess of Kimmich and Kim Min-jae, and he may have a point. I felt bad for Eric Dier, as he tried frantically to alert the right side of his defence to the intergalactic swathe of space that they’d left for Vinicius to run into” – Kári Tulinius

“Once again, a team create plenty of chances against Real Madrid and fail to take them. Sané being the guiltiest party. And then get soundly punished by Real’s clinical finishing. You simply can’t hope to beat them and be profligate” – Colum Fordham

“Harry smashed it wide, and Real was inches from a pen. What a disaster that would have been for Bayern. Lucky boys” – Mary Waltz

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HALF TIME: Bayern Munich 0-1 Real Madrid

45 min: Rodrygo hammers a rising free kick that clips off the top of Kane’s head and out for a corner. Kane brave in the wall there. Kroos sends the corner in long from the right. Rodrygo tries to beat Laimer on the opposite flank but settles for another corner. Kroos ambles across to take that one.

44 min: Bellingham’s been quiet, but he suddenly pops up, chasing Valverde’s long pass down the inside-right channel. Mazraoui comes across and cynically clips his ankle just outside the box. Into the book he goes. This is a free kick in a very dangerous position.

42 min: Kane takes a couple of steps and absolutely wellies an effort past the left-hand post. Always wide, and Lunin had it covered, but my, he hit that.

41 min: A lot of pre-kick planning. Kane at the centre of the chat.

40 min: Rodrygo drives down the left and attempts a one-two with Bellingham, who miscontrols. Bellingham has been quiet so far. Give him time. Bayern counter through Musiala, who has been Bayern’s most dangerous attacker up to this point. He dribbles down the inside-right channel before drawing a clumsy foul from Nacho. A free kick in a very dangerous position, just outside the D.

38 min: Kimmich hits the corner long. The whistle goes for some shoving. Bayern still haven’t put Lunin to serious work, that Sane chance on 40 seconds apart.

37 min: Bayern get the ball back and get patient. A lot of sideways passing and not much in the way of speed. They need to pick it up. Mazraoui takes matters into his own hands and suddenly sprints down the left to earn a corner.

35 min: Vinicius Junior win a corner down the left. Kroos takes. Neuer punches confidently clear from the middle of a packed penalty area.

34 min: A surge of noise from the home crowd as they attempt to restart their team. Bayern’s fast pace of the early exchanges absent now.

32 min: Real stroke it around the middle of the park again. Slow and sure. Happy to let the clock tick on. Bayern don’t commit to the press, and it’s a bit of a stand-off. On the touchline, Thomas Tuchel rails at his low-energy players.

30 min: Vinicius Junior tries to sprint past Kim down the right but the big defender isn’t having any of it. He holds his line impressively. Bayern counter, and Musiala dribbles into a little space down the right. But he can neither find Kane in the middle, nor work enough space for a meaningful shot. Real eventually clear their lines.

28 min: Bayern have responded well to going behind, in so much as they don’t look rattled and are stroking it around in their usual imperious style. But the chance creation isn’t happening any more.

26 min: Muller, playing in the pocket, wedges down the middle in the hope of releasing Sane into the Real box. Sane goes over, and wants a penalty, but he’s not getting one. Lucas Vázquez had gently nudged him off balance, but nothing that deserved the award of a spot kick.

25 min: … and after all of that early Bayern pressure as well! Yep, Real Madrid are the masters of the European rope-a-dope.

GOAL! Bayern Munich 0-1 Real Madrid (Vinícius Júnior 24)

23 min: Real are slowly working their way into the game. Their first period of prolonged possession.

21 min: Real finally show in attack, Lucas Vázquez winning a corner down the right. They play it short, then Vinicius Junior shanks a weird shot-cum-cross high into the stand behind the goal. A few of his team-mates give him the what-for.

19 min: Kane attempts to release Sane down the middle but Rudiger spots the danger and saunters across to intercept. The aforementioned Kaiser would have been impressed with that display of insouciant defensive authority.

18 min: Mazraoui jigs elegantly down the left touchline, only to be unceremoniously stopped by Lucas Vázquez. No free kick, though he wanted and probably deserved one.

16 min: Musiala has another go, dragging a weak effort wide left from distance. Real surely can’t keep on giving up chances, because at some point a Bayern player will connect with his shot properly.

14 min: Bayern continue to stroke it around, probing hither and yon. They’re all over Real … but the visitors are holding their shape, and despite Bayern enjoying 64 percent of possession so far, they’ve only forced Lunin into action once.

12 min: Muller dribbles down the right and cuts back for Musiala, who leans back and hoicks over. Real can’t get a touch.

11 min: This is all Bayern, who have started very well and are first to mostly everything. Real are, of course, past masters at soaking up pressure then striking out of nowhere.

9 min: Kane attempts to score from the halfway line, having spotted Lunin wandering around miles from his goal. It’s always heading over the bar, but full marks for ambition. Kane’s getting a taste for this sort of thing.

7 min: Real have started a little slowly. A couple of loose passes in the midfield and Goretzka is able to slip Sane into loads of space on the left. Sane thinks about looking for Kane or Musiala in the middle, but hesitates and the chance to cross is gone. So is the chance to shoot, just about, and in a panic he flays a wild effort over the bar.

6 min: Kimmich hits this one long. It’s half cleared. But then Sane feeds Kane down the right. Kane drops a shoulder and pings a shot straight at Lunin.

5 min: Musiala turns on the jets and earns a corner down the inside-right channel. Kimmich plays it short and back to Musiala, who attempts to return it down the channel. Kimmich wants to cross from the byline but settles for a second corner.

4 min: Bellingham tries to switch play from right to left with a first-time speculative hoof. Rodrygo can’t latch onto the ball and Kimmich tidies up. A nice open start to this semi-final.

2 min: Real reply to that early concern with a period of nerve-settling possession. They ping it around and eventually Bellingham is caught offside.

41 sec: A huge chance for Bayern! Sane is released into the Real box down the inside-left channel by Kane. It’s a tight-ish angle, but Sane only has Lunin to beat. He hits his shot straight at the keeper. What a start that could have been!

“Let’s go boys!” Jude Bellingham shouts to his team-mates as he claps some encouragement before Bayern kick off.

The teams are out! Bayern play in their red and white, forcing Real into their dark-blue change strip. A fine couple-of-cold-steins-in atmosphere of anticipation at the Fußball Arena München, as Uefa insist we call the Allianz Arena. It glows red in the Bavarian night. A huge banner celebrating the late, great Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer. We’ll be off after a quick blast of Zadok the Priest (Version).

Pre-match postbag. “I was never a Spurs fan but I was a huge Harry Kane fan. I was so happy for Kane when he left. Finally he would win League silverware with Bayern, he would escape all the Spurs management melodrama. So of course, Bayern loses the Bundesliga crown, and management melodrama erupts. So I am hoping Kane can drive Bayern to a Champions league title, good ol’ Harry deserves it” – Mary Waltz

“Initially, I was quite conflicted on this match-up. I don’t like either team, but one of them has to go through. So what do I do? After a good hard think about it (OK, maybe five minutes), I’ve come to a conclusion. As much as I would enjoy Harry Kane not winning anything this season, I can never forgive that Sergio Ramos armlock which dislocated Salah’s shoulder, or his subsequent elbow that concussed Karius in the 2018 Final. Ramos is gone, but he’s got a suitably dirty replacement in Dani Carvajal. I know it is naive and unlikely, but I want Real Madrid to never win anything ever again. Am I still bitter? Maybe” – Joe Pearson

“To your point that this is an old-styley European Cup semifinal: it has been said that the upstart result of the much lamented Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983 prompted the elite clubs of Europe to lobby Uefa successfully to start the so-called Champions League in the first place. Of course, as you know, in that year the cup winners of the Cup Winners’ Cup defeated both Bayern and Real. In a parallel universe, 41 years on, the winner of tonight’s tie will face Aberdeen. Ach well. What went wrong? With Aberdeen? And with fitba in general?” – Donald Phillips

“‘It’s on’ in Spanish would be better translated as ‘Está en marcha’” – Jorge Oróstica

“‘Ist Zustand’ is nonsense. You want something like ‘Jetzt geht’s los!’” – Eric Schwab

“Dear Google Translate, you are sacked” – The Guardian

Bayern and Real have played each other 26 times before, every single fixture coming in the European Cup. Fourteen of those matches have been at the semi-final stage, so this is a summit meeting between royalty, all right. Bayern have four aggregate semi-final victories to Real’s three, but the Spaniards have won the last two ties. The most recent meeting was the 2017-18 semi, when Madrid won 4-3 on aggregate. Bayern’s record at home against Real is W9 D1 L3 F26 A18.

Bayern Munich make three changes to the team that started last Saturday’s 2-1 Bundesliga win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala and Minjae Kim take the places of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Raphaël Guerreiro, who drop to the bench, and the injured Matthijs de Ligt. Harry Kane leads the line.

Real Madrid made wholesale changes to their side for last Friday’s 1-0 La Liga win at Real Sociedad, to the extent that only two of their starters in that match keep their place. Aurélien Tchouameni and captain Nacho are the lucky men. Thibaut Courtois, a long-term absentee after rupturing his ACL last August, returns and is on the bench. Jude Bellingham faces his England colleagues Kane and Eric Dier.

The teams

Preamble