Borussia Dortmund 4 Real Madrid 1. It's not been a good 24 hours for Spanish football. On Tuesday night Barcelona were routed 4-0 by Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the Champions League and on Wednesday it was the turn of Dortmund to demonstrate that the balance of power in European football has shifted dramatically north to Germany.
Having said that, it was a Polish striker who annihilated Real Madrid. Robert Lewandowski scored all four of Dortmund's goals in a virtuoso display of finishing that left the Spanish reeling.
Cristiano Ronaldo managed to find the net for the visitors but the Portuguese marksman was overshadowed by the brilliance of the 24-year-old Lewandowski, who became the first player to score a Champions League hat-trick against Real.
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"It was an unbelievable display from my team," declared Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp. "I gave all my players a hug because they fully deserved it. That was pure football tonight, my players were unstoppable."
Dortmund began the night as the only unbeaten side in the tournament and it took Lewandowski just eight minutes to latch onto Mario Gotze's cross and volley them into the lead. Though Ronaldo levelled for Real just before half-time – his 50th goal in the Champions League – after the break it was all Dortmund as the German side crushed their illustrious opponents. With a killer touch in front of goal, Lewandowski twice pounced on loose balls to give his side a 3-1 lead, before adding a fourth from the penalty spot on 67 minutes.
"He deserves great credit for his performance but we didn't make it as difficult for him as I would like," said Real coach Jose Mourinho of Lewandowski.
For Mourinho the result was the biggest defeat in 106 Champions League encounters but the man hoping to become the first coach to win the competition with three different clubs had no complaints about the outcome. "They were the better side by far," reflected Mourinho. "They won their individual battles. They were better organised than us, better physically and better mentally."
Dortmund's win, coupled with Bayern's emphatic victory, means that Germany lead Spain 8-1 on aggregate after the first legs of their semi-finals, evidence perhaps that La Liga isn't all it's cracked up to be with Real and Barcelona playing too many matches against weak opponents. The past 24 hours also make a mockery of FIFA's World Club XI, which was announced in January and supposedly brings together the best players from around the world in a dream team.
This year the XI featured five players from Real, five from Barcelona and one from Atletico Madrid.
But the days of Spanish dominance are over and next season even FIFA, with its long history of baffling decisions, will find it impossible to ignore the fact that German club football is now the strongest in Europe.
The final at Wembley next month is sure to be an all-German affair, though Mourinho hasn't given hope that Real can somehow come back from the dead. "In football anything is possible," he said. "On a crazy night when everyone performs at a high level, when every chance is a goal, we can turn it around."
