Alex Kirkland Apr 15, 2026, 07:05 PM ET Just when you think you've seen it all from Real Madrid , they go and play like they did in the first half at the Allianz Arena. The 15-time European Cup winners, whose unlikely wins in daunting circumstances are central to their identity, have struggled. They're coasting toward the end of the LaLiga season, nine points off the top, and in the UEFA Champions League , they were outplayed by Bayern Munich in last week's first leg. But in Munich, against one of Europe's top teams, they scored three first-half goals -- conceding two -- in 45 breathless minutes, to level the score at 4 and leave you wondering: Could they really do it again? Only one visiting team scored three times in a Champions League first half at the Allianz, and that was Madrid, too, in 2014, in an away performance for the ages. In the end, the answer was no, and they go home eliminated at the quarterfinal stage after losing 4-3 on Wednesday night, 6-4 on aggregate. But they came desperately close.…