Barcelona took their revenge on Bayern Munich, after
Barcelona lost to them a couple of years back, with a massive 3-0 victory in
the first leg of the semifinals.
Messi was again the star of the match as he turned on his
magic to beat Bayern and German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
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| image courtesy : espnfc.com |
Pep Guardiola before the match said that it is impossible to
close down Messi even with the best defenders in the world and it was true as
Messi humiliated the Bayern Munich defense with some magic for both the goals.
In the end Bayern Munich had most of possession but it was Barcelona who had
more shots on goal. The first and biggest chance of the game fell to Uruguayan
striker Luis Suarez as he races for the ball and Bayer Munich defense couldn’t
catch up with him but in the end his shot was saved brilliantly from Manuel
Neuer. Then the chance fell to Bayern Munich as Thomas Muller fires in a low
cross across the face of goal and Robert Lewandowski couldn’t hit the sweet
spot and it went out for a goal kick. There was nothing much in particular till
the first half whistle and there was nothing to split the two sides in terms of
possession as Bayern Munich had 51% and Barcelona had 49% of the possession.
The first yellow card of the game fell for Brazilian
defender Daniel Alves who fouled Robert Lewndowski just outside the box. Xabi
Alonso took the resulting free-kick and it deflected out of the wall and went
out for a corner kick. The second booking of the night and the first for Bayern
came to Benatia for a foul on Andres Iniesta. The next chance came to Barcelona
as Messi powerful shot lacked swerve and it went straight into the hands of
Manuel Neuer. Moments later Manuel Neuer showed a moment of brilliance as he
raced off his line to clear the ball out of Neymar’s path who was through on
goal. Neymar had another chance but his shot was high and far from any
impact. Gerard Pique picked the next
yellow card for a foul on Robert Lewandowski. Moments later Neymar received a
yellow card for a foul on Thomas Muller.
Messi broke the deadlock in the 77th minute after
he picked out a pass from Dani Alves from the right flank cut inside and fire a
low shot to the near post from outside the box and the ball ended up in the
back of the net. In the meanwhile Bayern
have brought on Mario Gotze who was the scorer of the decisive goal in the
final of the world cup this year.
In the 80th minute Barca doubled their advantage
and Messi was again on the score-sheet. Ivan Rakitic found Messi inside the box
and Messi dribbling past Jerome Boateng and chipping the ball past Manuel
Neuer. Brilliant goal from Messi that. Suarez was again through on goal but he
fired his shot high and wide under pressure in the 84th minute. Marc
Bartra came on for Javier Macherano who was brilliant in defense who put
amazing last ditch tackles and linked up well with teammates. Bayern never
looked like scoring after that eventhough they held possession. They were
really missing crafty Arjen Robben and powerful Franck Ribery.
In the 94th
minute the third and final goal came from Neymar as he found himself clear of
defense and he easily slotted past a helpless Manuel Neuer.
Bayern couldn’t find away goals but it’s not like they
cannot do it as they already did it to Porto.
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