Just ridiculous. Just Real Madrid. The team that appears to own this competition, that has some mystical hold over it and has lifted that trophy 14 times, are in the final again because, well, because of course they are. Late, very late on another wild, magical night here, the Santiago Bernabéu launched into a familiar chant. “That’s how Madrid win,” it goes, and so they do. Again and again and again, each time more epic, more absurd than the last, this football force that just can’t be contained. The closer you think you are, the further away it is, as Bayern Munich found.

Bayern had held on, they had survived, and they had scored. They should have scored again, ending this, killing off the team that just will not die, but they hadn’t. And yet still, Wembley was so close now. There were less than three minutes to go in this semi-final, but it turned out to be a lifetime, one they will surely spend wondering how this happened. Enough time not just for Madrid to equalise but to win it, two goals from the former Stoke and Newcastle striker Joselu, sent on as a sub, taking them to the final, this place exploding.

It had happened again and it was so cruel, Manuel Neuer – Bayern’s saviour – dropping the first at his feet on 87.27 minutes and the forward turning the second over the line on 90.02, a goal at first disallowed for offside, but then reinstated, royalty heading through to another final, another chance to wear its crown.

It would be a game of waves, Thomas Tuchel had said, and the first came crashing in after just seven seconds. A loose ball set Vinícius sprinting up the right and winning a corner, standing there in front of the north stand roaring and inviting them to roar too. In those opening minutes, they did often: this was a huge occasion anyway, the bus arriving through noise and smoke, and an early momentum built. There was a hint of concern, even nervousness, in the Bayern side, their passing under pressure lacking the precision to give them respite.

Serious scares arrived soon. The first came when Dani Carvajal’s ball went all the way across the face of goal, where Rodrygo was a fraction away from connecting; the second a few minutes later when Bayern, momentarily distracted by a ball that curled off the pitch and back on again, were caught out by a quick throw with another ball. Carvajal slipped it to Vinícius, near the corner of the six-yard box. Neuer somehow pushed it against the far post and, even more impressively, stopped Rodrygo’s ­follow-up from the floor.

Madrid should have led, and Neuer was there again late in the half, tipping away a swinging cross from Vinícius that threatened to go all the way through and in at the far post.

There was action at the other end, although for Bayern it wasn’t so much chances missed as chances not quite made. Toni Kroos slid in superbly to stop a Harry Kane pass aimed at the run of Leroy Sané and twice the Germans opened up Madrid on the wing. From the left, released by Jamal Musiala and well inside the area, Serge Gnabry’s ball towards Kane, alone by the far post and easy enough to reach, was horribly hit; from the right, with men loading the area, Sané’s scuffed cross was even worse.

Bayern had come through that early storm and were starting to gain a little control; what they could not find yet was a clear way through, a space into which to advance. Jude Bellingham in particular plugged holes. When the opportunity to deliver did open up, passes were overplayed or delayed a little too long. A couple of times, Kane couldn’t release the runners. He did, though, flash a superb volley out of nowhere just past Andriy Lunin’s post.

The second half began with opportunities at each end, Eric Dier getting in the way of Fede Valverde and Carvajal deflecting Alphonso Davies’s effort just over. Vinícius had made the first of those and he escaped deep into the area soon after, beating Joshua Kimmich again to win a corner and imploring the fans to find their voice. Kane then scrambled free, held off Ferland Mendy, and drew a save from Lunin. This was shaping up to be an intriguing game, two genuine heavyweights aware of their opponent’s qualities as well as their own.

Vinícius seemed by far the most likely to mark this game, Bayern unable to contain him. Another wonderful run provided for Rodrygo whose shot slipped just past a post. The Bernabéu really found its voice, a sense of opportunity opening before them. This was not so much a wave now; it was a tsunami. Neuer saved Rodrygo’s free-kick and then produced an extraordinary save as Vinícius came racing inside yet again, defenders disappearing behind him, to let fly.

Bayern were suffering, Neuer a one-man resistance, just about keeping them in it. But for as long as they were, there might be a chance, and so it proved. There was a reminder that this was not done yet when Musiala, found by Davies, drew a sharp save from Lunin. And then, suddenly, it happened. The move began on the edge of their own area, space opening before them. Kane delivered a superb pass to the left to Davies who turned inside off the wing and smashed an extraordinary shot into the net.

Madrid would have to come back again. This is their thing, the noise rising. They thought they had equalised almost immediately when Nacho turned in a corner, but the referee Szymon Marciniak was called to the VAR screen where he saw that the Madrid defender had put his hands on Kimmich’s face and pushed him over just before.

Bayern had a let-off, and might have ended it. Should have, in fact. Soon after Musiala found Kane inside the area but his shot though hit the side-netting. And then with eight minutes to go Kim Min-jae headed against the bar from three yards. Immediately after, Vinicius’s volley, found by Rüdiger, bent just over the bar. This was Madrid time, miracle time. For Bayern, it was all about the resistance, but their task was impossible: to hold back an irresistible force.