Bayern Munich showed mental strength and absolute belief to come from behind three times before beating Real Madrid 4-3 on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, coach Vincent Kompany said.
Kompany, who was shown a yellow card during the match and will miss Bayern’s first leg against holders Paris Saint-Germain, said the Bavarians, who are chasing a trio of titles, had to dig deep to overcome record 15-time European champions Real 6-4 in a classic draw.
“The boys were mentally strong today to recover from setbacks,” said Kompany. «The fans also helped us. We stayed calm and always felt that our moment would come. The boys deserved this win.»
«What remains for me is the total togetherness we showed. That’s what we get out of the game. We showed absolute belief and will to fight our way back into the game.»
«During the match, our team has a lot of talent and experience to deal with these types of situations. After conceding a goal 35 seconds into this match, you have to press the reset button. We stayed focused on our game,» said Kompany.
Hosts Bayern trailed 0-1 after 35 seconds when Arda Guler took advantage of a big mistake from goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, and Real took the lead twice more to go into halftime 3-2 ahead.
However, Bayern, 2-1 winners of the first leg in Spain, kept their composure and struck twice in the final stages through Luis Diaz and Michael Olise to take victory and progress to the last four.
The six-time European champions can potentially clinch the Bundesliga title this weekend, with a 12-point lead with five games remaining before facing Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup semi-finals.
“It was a very emotional match,” said Kompany in his second season at Bayern. «We had a lot of ball possession and always felt like we could score. But Real Madrid remains Real Madrid. They have very fast players and are always a threat.»
Kompany became the eleventh coach to lead Bayern to the semi-finals of the European Cup.
Published on April 16, 2026
