It’s funny how soccer sometimes works. In the first 15 minutes of the match, Real had three great chances to score. Higuain received a pass from Özil in the 4th minute but took two touches before getting his shot away, giving Weidenfeller time to close the angle. In the 13th minute, Angel Di Maria hit a streaking Cristiano Ronaldo with an amazing long ball behind the defense; Ronaldo took it on his chest and then fired it straight at Weidenfeller. Not an easy shot by any stretch, but you get so accustomed to Cristiano Ronaldo scoring goals exactly like that. And then in the 15th minute an Higuaín flick put Özil through on goal, but he pulled his near-post shot wide.

If Real scores on two of those three opportunities–and on another day, they would have–then it’s a very different game the rest of the way. Up 2-0 with 75 minutes to play, you’d be hard pressed to bet against them closing the gap and going on to win.

Similarly, in the first leg, it seemed Lewandowski couldn’t help but score. In the second, he had four solid chances: the one in the 13th minute that he hit straight at Diego López, and then three in the second half, two of which he missed badly and the other he put off the underside of the bar. A Lewandowski in first leg’s form scores at least two of those and puts the tie to bed; in the return leg he can’t manage it.

And so the score remained 0-0 until the match was nearly over.
Then, somehow, in the 82nd, Benzema scored from close range, a goal that was more difficult than it probably appeared, and then Ramos gave Real a second in the 88th, and suddenly it was 2-0 with two minutes left in regulation and an expected four or five minutes of stoppage time. Suddenly the game became a subset of the game of soccer, a situation that occurs only at the end of two-legged cup ties: with so little time remaining, there will be no draw. Either Real scores and they win, or they do not and they lose. All of the possible scenarios narrow down to just this: Real will do everything to try to score, Dortmund will do everything to stop them.

It was a thrilling finale, but Real came up short. For the third year in a row they exit the Champions League in the semi-finals. Mourinho looks to be leaving the club this off-season. He was brought in to win the Champions League and failed. My question: is the fault Real Madrid’s, or his?