It was perceived as the evening when a remarkable young talent might steal Harry Kane’s thunder and that is precisely what happened. But, lest we forget, Jude Bellingham isn’t the only shooting star in Real Madrid’s galaxy.

This was a night where he conducted and danced but did so in the broad shadow cast by Vinicius Junior, who bookended a marvellous Champions League semi-final with goals that in one breath teased the prospect of a Real victory and in the next rescued a draw.

Before we get into the finer details, this was a belter of a tie. Truly, it was. And for a short while in the second half it seemed sure that it would be decided in Bayern’s favour by Kane’s penalty for 2-1.

We had already seen plenty of undulations by that stage, first with the sheer splendour of Vinicius Junior’s opener in the face of a tidal wave of pressure from Bayern, and then via the turnaround brought on through Leroy Sane’s equaliser after the break. 

With Real clearly still rattled, a Bayern penalty was won and Kane nailed his spot kick, but only after he was joined on the spot by Bellingham in what was a curious sight indeed.

Vinicius Jr scored both of Real Madrid's goals in their win over Bayern Munich

We might have to wait before we learn exactly what was whispered in Kane’s ear in those moments of tension, which played out as England’s captain stood with ball in his hands, and possibly his destiny too. 

But the symbolism of what followed was gloriously clear – the old boy isn’t handing over that sceptre to the new just yet.

Had that been the winning strike, it would have made for a nice script. A nice line in the narrative game. But Real Madrid are nothing if not suckers for the escape from a tight bind and so there was more, which is where Vinicius returned to the stage for the 83rd minute penalty that ended the chaos with scores level.

In the bigger picture, that will presumably mean advantage to Real Madrid ahead of the second leg at the Bernabeu. In that sense, Bellingham’s prospects of winning the Champions League at the age of 20 remain alive and very well. 

But so much credit belongs to Bayern – even with their European pedigree, their fall from grace in domestic matters meant they were significant underdogs here.

And that is before we consider the wider mess around Thomas Tuchel’s future. He is a dead man walking in his post, that much has been confirmed, so how enjoyable that he was able to ram a few judgements back down the throats of those who decided on announcing the forthcoming end of his tenure back in February. 

Bayern were excellent here, with a performance built on a swarming midfield that often seemed to contain Kane, so deep was his deployment, and carried on a wave of noise within the Allianz Arena.

Bellingham’s first taste of it came early. In fact, he experienced it well over an hour before kick-off, when he maintained his pre-match ritual of taking a solo stroll around the pitch. 

With several thousand Bayern fans already seated, there was initially a collective silence as if to query the brazenness of it all before the booing could commence. When it came, it came in blasts.

That signified a couple of things. One was Bellingham’s composure on any stage, which is no secret by now, and the other was the frenzied atmosphere of this wonderful venue, which will never cease to amaze.

The relief for Ancelotti was that he effectively had a full hand to play in those surroundings, with only the suspension of Dani Carvajal separating Real from their strongest available XI.

As for Tuchel, the pre-match uncertainties contained doubts around each of Sane, Jamal Musiala, Matthijs de Ligt, Konrad Laimer and Dayot Upamecano. Ultimately it was only De Ligt who failed the late fitness checks.

If there was a surprise from the Bayern perspective, it nosed on who wasn’t here to watch them – Gareth Southgate. We are presumably at the stage in Eric Dier’s revival when he warrants a personal visit and that was underlined here. 

The former Spurs man’s first contribution was to casually palm off some pressing from Bellingham and his second was to crunch him with a challenge – it typified the brute force with which Bayern began this 27th edition of a fascinating contest.

But they were also about finesse and chances. Plenty of them. The first and best came within 40 seconds and via a flicked pass from Kane to Sane, which foreshadowed a supply pattern that would repeat for much of the half and served to give the latter a clear line of sight to Andriy Lunin. 

He shot straight at the keeper and Tuchel worked himself into one of those arm-flapping rages. A premonition of what it might cost, perhaps.

After a further eight minutes Kane had also drawn a comfortable save from Lunin and Sane skied from a similar position, before Kane went for an almighty swing from close to halfway. His shot fell a fraction too late to become an instant classic, but simultaneously that attempt captured the Bayern plan to smack Real early and hard.

Before long Real had faced no fewer than six good or decent chances in return for one botched corner. Such was their inability to work through Bayern’s midfield, Bellingham was dropping ever deeper in search of quicker balls, but nothing was working. Everything was being lost in the red swamp.

And then Real had their opening. It was only a glimmer of an opportunity. A sniff. But that’s what they do.

We should start with Vinicius Jr – he was masterful for his role, both in the subtle step towards the halfway line that dragged Kim Min-jae with him and then his sprint back into the vacated space prior to delivering the coolest of finishes. And yet the glory, the art, was found in the throughball by Toni Kroos. With no margin for error, the precision and weight of his pass between Kim and Dier was simply marvellous.

From there, Bayern rediscovered some pressure and went close through a Kane free-kick, but in a movie Manchester City will recognise, they left the pitch behind. Could they turn it around?

The prognosis at the start of the second half remained bleak – a Kroos curler would have made it 2-0 except for the ageless reflexes of Manuel Neuer. But how quickly it turned. Just as the opening 45 had in the opposite direction.

The leveller came from Sane and it was a beauty, predominantly for how he sidestepped Ferland Mendy before entering the traffic of a loaded area. Getting his shot off just in time, the ball slammed low inside the near post.

Bedlam followed and only grew louder two minutes later when Jamal Musiala, once of the England youth teams and now a German international, was brought down by Lucas Vazquez. Penalty. Up stepped Kane, Bellingham went with him, and sent his message back the other way with a low drive.

There would be further chances, both for Kane and more clearly Vinicius Junior, who was stopped brilliantly by Neuer. Bayern were close. Kane was close. But then Kim bundled over Rodrygo and up walked Vinicius Junior. He fired down the middle and that was that. Bonkers and brilliant.