After the restart, the Inter Milan players looked completely lost. They did not seem to know whether they should attack or sit deep and defend.
And while Inter hesitated, Real Madrid, spurred on by the home crowd, launched another rapid attack.
Once again, it began with Theodore Bjorn winning the ball.
After Arturo Vidal received a pass from a teammate deep in his own half, the veteran midfielder lingered on the ball, contemplating whether to send it forward or recycle it backward.
He took too long and Theodore suddenly materialized on his blindside.
The Chilean was completely unprepared.
Theodore reacted sharply, extending a long leg and cleanly poking the ball away with his right foot.
Just like that, Vidal was dispossessed in a highly dangerous area.
The moment Theodore secured the ball, he immediately knocked it heavily forward.
He wanted to use another lightning-fast transition to hammer Inter Milan's retreating back line.
Seeing the teenager burst past him, a desperate Vidal instinctively reached out to grab a handful of Theodore's shirt, but Theodore's acceleration gave him absolutely no chance to make contact.
Once Theodore engaged his top speed, he was a white blur. In a flash, he swept past Vidal and was gone.
Now, the entirety of the defensive pressure fell onto the shoulders of another Inter midfielder, Marcelo Brozović.
But just as the Croatian went into a desperate sliding tackle to halt the momentum, Theodore cleverly scooped the ball with his right instep.
The ball skipped perfectly over Brozović's outstretched leg.
Just as Theodore looked primed to unleash a shot from the edge of the area, Inter's two central defenders, Alessandro Bastoni and Stefan de Vrij, broke rank and stepped aggressively out of the penalty area.
Their objective was simple: stop the teenager from shooting at all costs.
In a sense, they succeeded.
Because Theodore did not shoot.
Instead, utilizing the space vacated by the two center-backs, he slipped a delicate pass out wide to Martin Ødegaard on the right flank.
Ødegaard shifted the ball onto his favored left foot and immediately whipped an exquisite, outside-of-the-boot cross into the danger zone.
The cross drew a huge, wicked arc through the Inter Milan penalty area before dipping violently in front of the goalmouth.
At that exact moment, the experienced Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanović rushed off his line, attempting to punch the danger clear.
Unfortunately for the Slovenian shot-stopper, he misjudged the flight.
Theodore, continuing his run from deep, launched his massive frame forward, executing a towering diving header.
He got there a fraction of a second ahead of Handanović, meeting the cross perfectly.
Bang!
The ball was powered violently into the roof of the Inter Milan net.
4–0!
"MY GOODNESS! ANOTHER GOAL!" Rob Palmer screamed in disbelief. "Inter Milan are being completely blown away!"
"Theodore Bjorn has scored twice in less than five minutes!"
"The score is four-nil inside 25 minutes!" Terry Gibson added, unable to hide his astonishment.
"Theodore is simply too complete as a player. When you think he's going to shoot, he passes. When you think he's going to pass, he arrives late in the box and buries a header!"
"Inter Milan's defense was actually relatively set there, but it was still shredded by Theodore's relentless movement," Palmer observed. "If Madrid keep this intensity up, they could easily score three or four more before halftime."
On the Inter Milan bench, head coach Antonio Conte had sunk into complete despair.
He abandoned the edge of the technical area where he usually orchestrated every movement.
Instead, he retreated to his seat on the bench, crossed his legs, and stared blankly at the turf.
Clearly, once the scoreline hit 4–0, the fiery Italian manager had completely surrendered all hope of salvaging the match.
For the remainder of the first half, Inter Milan drastically altered their tactical approach in pure self-preservation.
Every single attacking player actively dropped deep into their own half to defend.
Inter were terrified of Real Madrid's devastating counterattacks, so their sole objective became avoiding further humiliation.
There was no denying that once Inter Milan parked a compact, low defensive block with ten men behind the ball, it did cause Real Madrid's attack some frustration.
For the rest of the half, Madrid did not extend their lead.
Of course, the primary reason for the lack of further goals was that Real Madrid had already comfortably secured the victory.
Since Inter had waved the white flag, Madrid naturally conserved energy and passed the ball sideways.
On global social media feeds, because the final twenty minutes of the half had become a training exercise, fans began discussing the sheer dominance of the display.
"What are Inter doing? Four goals down and they're parking the bus?!"
"Conte's expression is hilarious. He looks like he's seen a ghost."
"Theodore is genuinely ridiculous. Two goals and two assists in 25 minutes. He's directly involved in all four!"
"A serious Real Madrid are terrifying. The Galácticos are back!"
"As an Inter fan, I just want to cry right now. Please, Theodore, show some mercy!"
"The only disappointment is Eden Hazard. He's basically a spectator out there. Such a shame what's happened to him since leaving Chelsea."
...
After forty-five minutes, Real Madrid headed down the tunnel carrying an unassailable 4–0 advantage.
Inside the away dressing room, the moment Inter's starting XI walked through the door, they were met by a volcanic eruption from Antonio Conte.
"You damn cowards! I honestly have no idea what you were doing out there!" Conte screamed, kicking a laundry basket across the room. "You didn't dare tackle, you didn't dare pass, and you didn't even dare shoot!"
"I explicitly told you before the match—you had to limit Theodore Bjorn! But what did you do?! When he had the ball in midfield, you just watched him!"
Conte spent ten furious minutes tearing his squad apart verbally.
Then, he utilized the final five minutes to make radical tactical adjustments.
When the two sides re-emerged for the second half, Conte had rolled the dice.
Nicolò Barella, who had struggled to impact the midfield, was withdrawn for Ivan Perišić.
Additionally, Christian Eriksen replaced Marcelo Brozović, while Alexis Sánchez came on for Ashley Young.
Conte made three aggressive changes at once.
Every player he sent on was an attack-minded option.
His intention was crystal clear: he was gambling everything on restoring some pride.
...
Inside the broadcast booth, Rob Palmer immediately noted the aggressive triple substitution.
"Antonio Conte has rolled the dice, Terry! Three attacking players introduced at halftime. He clearly hasn't given up on this match just yet."
"That is the Antonio Conte we know, Rob," Gibson replied. "He will never surrender easily. He's leaving his defense incredibly exposed, but it certainly makes for an interesting second half."
Sure enough, Conte's gamble paid immediate dividends.
Only three minutes into the second half, Inter Milan executed a coordinated, aggressive press.
Arturo Vidal and the newly introduced Christian Eriksen successfully suffocated Casemiro, stripping the ball from the Brazilian deep in the Madrid half.
This was a golden opportunity.
Eriksen immediately looked up and threaded a brilliant, line-breaking through ball.
It was a pass executed with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel.
In the blink of an eye, the ball sliced open the retreating Real Madrid defensive line.
Lautaro Martínez got across the face of Sergio Ramos and fired a first-time strike with his right foot before the Spanish captain could intervene.
It was a shot of perfect placement and power.
The ball arrowed into the bottom right corner of the Real Madrid net!
Thibaut Courtois stood rooted to the spot, completely beaten.
4–1!
"Inter score!" Palmer announced. "Lautaro Martínez pulls one back for the visitors!"
"Since the restart, Inter look like a completely different side. The intensity has skyrocketed!"
"From what I can see, Conte still wants to win this football match," Gibson added. "There is plenty of time left on the clock. If Inter can grab another quickly, the suspense might just return."
After Lautaro breached the Madrid goal, a fleeting trace of satisfaction finally appeared on Conte's face on the touchline.
For a brief moment, it seemed as if a flicker of hope had been ignited for a miracle comeback.
However, following the restart, the Real Madrid players were not anxious in the slightest.
Benzema decisively tapped the ball back into midfield for Theodore.
Theodore chose to carry the ball forward himself.
He knew the Inter players were currently running on pure adrenaline, desperate to hunt a second goal.
He also recognized that by introducing three attacking players, Conte had inevitably compromised the structural integrity of Inter's defensive block.
Reality proved him exactly right.
The instant Theodore began driving into the Inter half, there was only one holding midfielder left to confront him: Arturo Vidal.
Vidal boasted an elite pedigree, having starred for Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona.
On his day, he was a ferocious ball-winner, capable of destroying opposition attacks through sheer aggression and physical dominance.
At his peak, he was often compared to Gennaro Gattuso.
But when the aging Chilean stepped up to confront the Norwegian teenager, his defensive talent proved entirely insufficient.
Theodore deliberately tapped the brakes, slowing his momentum, openly inviting Vidal to commit to a challenge.
Seeing the hesitation, Vidal didn't think twice. With one aggressive stride, he lunged in to make the tackle.
Theodore saw the trap spring perfectly.
The millisecond Vidal committed his weight, Theodore knocked the ball rapidly forward with his right foot.
Utilizing his terrifying explosiveness, he blew past the Chilean as if he wasn't there.
Theodore surged into the final third. Recognizing the massive danger, all three of Inter's central defenders abandoned their marks and frantically scrambled toward the teenager simultaneously.
Arriving at the top of the penalty arc, Theodore had two obvious options.
He could slip a pass left to Eden Hazard, or reverse it right to Martin Ødegaard.
Theodore heavily dropped his right shoulder, selling a disguised pass.
His body shape strongly indicated he was about to slide the ball to Ødegaard on the right.
Anticipating the pass, the three Inter defenders immediately shifted their weight and braced to block the passing lane.
It was a devastating feint.
Fake pass, real cut.
In a fraction of a second, Theodore dragged the ball sharply back in the opposite direction with the sole of his boot.
Just like that, he glided effortlessly through the gap between the wrong-footed defenders. Taking one heavy touch, he burst cleanly into the penalty area.
Every single Inter Milan player stood paralyzed.
They had never anticipated the teenager breaching their defensive line with such ridiculous ease.
Now, the only obstacle remaining between Theodore and the goal was Danilo D'Ambrosio and the goalkeeper, Handanović.
Knowing he was beaten for pace, D'Ambrosio made a cynical decision. He simply threw his body weight across Theodore, attempting to wipe him out entirely.
He calculated that conceding a penalty and taking a red card was preferable to allowing a guaranteed goal.
But D'Ambrosio had severely underestimated Theodore's balance and core strength.
Absorbing the heavy contact, Theodore stumbled but managed to stay upright just long enough to strike the ball cleanly with his right instep before hitting the turf.
Bang!
Despite losing his balance, the technique was flawless.
A thunderous strike flew off his boot, skimming past Handanović's desperate dive and crashing into the roof of the net.
5–1.
Just as Inter Milan appeared to be building momentum for a fightback, Theodore Bjorn single-handedly delivered a fatal, crushing blow.
The flicker of hope was instantly extinguished.
"IT IS THEODORE AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN!" Palmer roared in absolute delight. "That is his hat-trick! The score is five-one!"
"He is completely unplayable tonight!"
On the touchline, Antonio Conte lowered his head.
In complete silence, he turned and slowly walked back to his seat on the bench.
His eyes were hollow, filled with a profound, terrifying helplessness.
He had tried everything.
He gambled on an attacking shape, and while it yielded a goal, it also left his defense completely exposed to the most ruthless counter-attacking player on the planet.
Victory, and dignity, were gone.