MUNICH (AP) — Real Madrid has made an art form of striking when least expected.
Bayern Munich was so dominant in the Champions League semifinal on Tuesday that it seemed only a matter of time before it scored. But Madrid pounced instead.
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MUNICH (AP) — Real Madrid has made an art form of striking when least expected.
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, covered by his teammates, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal on a penalty kick during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal on a penalty kick during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal on a penalty kick during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna)
Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's second goal by a penalty during the Champions League, semifinal first leg, soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Matthias Balk/dpa via AP)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's second goal by penalty during the Champions League, semifinal first leg, soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Matthias Balk/dpa via AP)
Vinícius Júnior ran onto a brilliant Toni Kroos pass and fired the visitors ahead in the 24th minute with their first chance.
“I know that Viní prefers the ball in space than at his feet,” Kroos said. “Then he makes his move. He makes the pass easy for me with his run.”
Madrid’s knack for scoring goals out of nothing is a trait that plays on rivals’ minds as Bayern midfielder Leon Goretzka acknowledged after the teams' 2-2 draw.
“We let Vinícius out our eye for a bit and then there was a huge hole,” Goretzka said. “There wasn’t the feeling that something dangerous could happen but that’s the quality of Real and you need to be ready for it all the time.”
Bayern dominated possession and goal attempts (14-8) but the two-leg series remains wide open ahead of the return semifinal match in Madrid next week.
“We had that last season too against Paris with Neymar and (Kylian) Mbappé, they’re just players with unbelievable quality,” Goretzka said. “It’s extremely dangerous when they’re up front. You always have to have a top defense and of course you can’t march forward blindly, no question.”
Madrid should arguably have gone on to score more after Vinícius opened the scoring as Bayern’s confidence took a blow and the home team no longer dominated.
Manuel Neuer made a fine save to deny Kroos and Madrid was in the ascendancy when Leroy Sané equalized with a fierce strike inside the right post and Harry Kane converted a penalty for Bayern.
Vinícius scored again after coolly converting a late penalty to level the match.
“Real Madrid always makes moves,” Vinícius said. “Now we have to be concentrated for the 90 minutes, or 120 if needed, at the Bernabéu.”
The winner will play Borussia Dortmund or Paris Saint-Germain in the final in London on June 1. Dortmund and PSG were to play the first leg of their semifinal in Dortmund on Wednesday.
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Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, covered by his teammates, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal on a penalty kick during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal on a penalty kick during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal on a penalty kick during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna)
Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's second goal by a penalty during the Champions League, semifinal first leg, soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Matthias Balk/dpa via AP)
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League semifinal first leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side's second goal by penalty during the Champions League, semifinal first leg, soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Matthias Balk/dpa via AP)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022.
Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. About 260 witnesses are expected at a trial that the Frankfurt state court expects to extend well into 2025, one of three related trials that in total involve more than two dozen suspects.
The defendants include the highest-profile suspects in the alleged plot, among them Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, whom the group allegedly planned to install as Germany’s provisional new leader; Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party; and former German military officers.
Most of them are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization that was founded in July 2021 with the aim of “doing away by force with the existing state order in Germany,” and also with “preparation of high treasonous undertaking.” Reuss and Rüdiger von Pescatore, a former paratrooper, are alleged to have been the group's ringleaders.
Prosecutors have said that the accused believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy myths,” including Reich Citizans and QAnon ideology, and were convinced that Germany is ruled by a so-called “deep state.” Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the United States.
The group planned to storm into the parliament building in Berlin and arrest lawmakers, according to prosecutors. It allegedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order primarily with Russia, as one of the allied victors of World War II.
The plotters allegedly had some 500,000 euros ($543,000) in funding and access to an arsenal including 380 firearms and nearly 350 weapons that could be used for stabbing, as well as equipment such as bulletproof vests and handcuffs. Federal prosecutors say they had drawn up several “lists of enemies” to be used in the takeover of regional and local authorities, and that the group's members were “aware the planned takeover of power would be linked with the killing of people.”
Prosecutors say that Reuss tried to contact Russian officials in 2022 to win Russia’s support for the plan, and it isn’t clear whether Russia responded.
The defendants in Frankfurt include a Russian woman accused of supporting a terrorist organization, in part by allegedly setting up a contact with the Russian consulate in Leipzig and accompanying Reuss there.
The Frankfurt trial, while the most prominent, is the second of three trials focusing on the plot to open. They involve a total of 26 suspects. Originally there were 27, but one man charged in Frankfurt died before the trial.
A trial of nine people in Stuttgart that began at the end of April is focusing on the so-called “military arm” of the plot, which prosecutors say was tasked with implementing the plans drawn up by the alleged leaders.
A third trial, opening in Munich on June 18, will feature the other eight suspects.
The alleged coup plot came to light with a slew of arrests in December 2022. But officials had long warned that far-right extremists pose the biggest threat to Germany’s domestic security.
That threat was highlighted by the killing of a regional politician and an attempted attack on a synagogue in 2019. A year later, far-right extremists taking part in a protest against pandemic restrictions tried and failed to enter the parliament building in Berlin.
In a separate case, five people went on trial in Koblenz a year ago over an alleged plot by a group calling itself United Patriots — which prosecutors say also is linked to the Reich Citizens milieu — to launch a far-right coup and kidnap Germany’s health minister.
In January, a report that extremists met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship, triggered mass protests against the rise of the far-right.
Some members of Alternative for Germany reportedly attended the meeting. The party, which has enjoyed strong support over the past year, sought to distance itself from the event while also decrying the reporting of it.
Moulson reported from Berlin.
Presiding judge Jürgen Bonk arrives to open a trial against the alleged leaders of a suspected German far-right coup plot, in the Sossenheim branch of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. (Boris Roessler/Pool Photo via AP)
ADDS NAME OF THE PERSON - The main defendant Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss is escorted in the court room that was built for a trial starting on Tuesday in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are going on trial in Frankfurt on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A defendant hides her face behind a file folder, center, at the start of a trial against the alleged leaders of a suspected German far-right coup plot, in the Sossenheim branch of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. (Boris Roessler/Pool Photo via AP)
Defendant Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, center, sits at the start of a trial against the alleged leaders of a suspected German far-right coup plot, in the Sossenheim branch of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. (Boris Roessler/Pool Photo via AP)
Main defendant Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss looks up at the start of a trial against the alleged leaders of a suspected German far-right coup plot, in the Sossenheim branch of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. (Boris Roessler/Pool Photo via AP)
Main defendant Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, center, is seen at the start of a trial against the alleged leaders of a suspected German far-right coup plot, in the Sossenheim branch of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. (Boris Roessler/Pool Photo via AP)
Main defendant Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, right, stands between his defence lawyers while another defendant hides her face behind a file folder, during a trial against the alleged leaders of a suspected German far-right coup plot, in the Sossenheim branch of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. Nine defendants faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. (Boris Roessler/Pool Photo via AP)
German police officers stand under barbed wire securing a temporary courtroom that was built for a trial starting on Tuesday in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are among nine suspects going on trial in Frankfurt Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A defendant is being escorted to a temporary courtroom that was built for a trial starting on Tuesday in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are going on trial in Frankfurt on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
German police officers stand under barbed wire securing a temporary courtroom that was built for a trial starting on Tuesday in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are among nine suspects going on trial in Frankfurt Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The defendant is lead to a temporary court room that was built for a trial starting on Tuesday in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are going on trial in Frankfurt on Tuesday, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
FILE - Police officers stand by a searched property in Frankfurt during a raid against so-called 'Reich citizens' in Frankfurt, Germany, on Dec. 7, 2022. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are among nine suspects going on trial in Frankfurt Tuesday May 21, 2024, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP, File)
FILE - A police officer carries a plastic box during a raid against so-called 'Reich citizens' in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 7, 2022. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are among nine suspects going on trial in Frankfurt Tuesday May 21, 2024, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (Paul Zinken/dpa via AP, File)
FILE - People hold up their cell phones as they protest the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the parliament building in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
FILE - Masked police officers lead Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, right, to a police vehicle during a raid against so-called 'Reich citizens' in Frankfurt, Germany, on Dec. 7, 2022. The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government are among nine suspects going on trial in Frankfurt Tuesday May 21, 2024, opening the most prominent proceedings in a case that shocked the country in late 2022. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP, File)
