In case you missed it, here are the highlights from Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League action.
The results
Match highlights: Bayern Munich 4, Barcelona 0
The day’s main talking points
1. While the 4-0 score line was a bit of a shocker, we really shouldn’t be surprised that Bayern emerged with the victory. The Bavarians entered this contest as the slight favourites and they lived up to that billing with a dominant display against a legendary Barcelona side. From front to back and in the middle, Bayern outplayed their Catalan counterparts, using a combination of skill, strength and speed to cruise to what will go down as one of the most memorable wins in club history. Bayern took full advantage of its size to outmuscle Barcelona on set pieces, winning the crucial first ball in the air that would cause plenty of problems for the Spanish defence. Bayern was economical in the way they shut down Barcelona’s potent attack, picking and choosing when they would squeeze them in midfield and not constantly going on a full-court press. It proved a wise tactic, and the combination of selective pressing and expertly picking off passes in the final third as they approached the Bayern goal frustrated the Catalans for the entire game. While Barcelona controlled possession, they were comfortably contained and left vulnerable against Bayern’s speed on the counter-attack.
2. Does anyone remember a less effective performance from Lionel Messi? Questionable for this game due a lingering hamstring injury (he’s sat out Barcelona’s last three La Liga matches), the mercurial Argentinean was in the starting eleven after being declared “completely recovered” by the Catalan club. But you have to wonder about the veracity of that official club statement. Messi looked uncharacteristically un-Messi: tentative, labouring on the ball, lacking in inspiration and imagination. That’s not to take anything away from Bayern Munich, who did a very good job of containing and shutting down the Barcelona superstar, and made sure that he was not a factor. But it was clear that Messi was not 100 per cent fit and was far off from his usual brilliant self.
3. The game was not without moments of controversy as two of Bayern’s goals should not have counted. Forward Mario Gomez was offside on the goal that made in 2-0 in the 49th minute. Then in the 73rd minute, Thomas Müller executed a basketball-type pick on Jordi Alba inside the penalty area, allowing Arjen Robben to continue uncontested on goal and beat Victor Valdes with a cool finish to make it 3-0. If the Gomez decision was a tough one to make, Müller’s foul was blatantly obvious, and there was no excuse for the officials to have missed it. Barcelona will no doubt feel aggrieved by those two blown calls, but they can hardly have any complaints about the loss, as they were completely outplayed by a dominant and surging Bayern Munich side that looks poised to win this tournament.
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Six pack of facts
Barcelona has won one of their seven competitive games against Bayern Munich (with two draws and four losses).
The last team to beat Barcelona 4-0 in the Champions League were Dyanmo Kyiv in November 1997.
Barcelona has won three of their last 16 away games in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Bayern Munich has won 18 of their last 21 Champions League games played at home.
Bayern has scored in each of their 14 homes games against Spanish opposition in the Champions League (29 goals in total).
Before Tuesday, Bayern Munich had not kept a clean sheet in their previous 12 Champions League games at home against Spanish opposition.
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Goal of the day
Two goals were contentious, two were legitimate, and the last one was the best of them all. Franck Ribery and David Alaba combined well down the left before Alaba whipped a low ball into the six-yard box for Thomas Müller to stab home and make it 4-0 in the 82nd minute.
Save of the day
In the 80th minute and with Bayern looking for a fourth goal, Thomas Müller cut inside of Barcelona defender Gerard Pique and unleashed a low driving shot that goalkeeper Victor Valdes did very well to stop.
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Sportsnet’s play of the day
Tweet of the day
Soccer Central’s Brendan Dunlop tweeted out this gem on Gerard Pique’s new shaved look:
Does Pique know he’s still dating Shakira?
— Brendan Dunlop(@Brendan_Dunlop) April 23, 2013
Burning questions
Realistically, even with the second leg at the Camp Nou, is there any way back for Barcelona in this tie?
Did Mario Gomez do enough to displace Mario Mandzukic (suspended for this game) in the starting lineup for the return leg next week in Barcelona?
Could Barcelona have fought back had Gomez’s goal been correctly ruled out for offside?
How on earth did the officials miss Thomas Müller’s blatant pick on Jordi Alba?
3 stars
1) Thomas Müller: With two goals on the night, Müller was by far the game’s decisive figure – and let’s not forget that body check he threw that led to the third goal!
2) Franck Ribery: The Frenchman was a dangerous presence down the left flank, as he continually ran at defenders, and created havoc with his speed and touch on the ball.
3) Arjen Robben: He’s disliked for going down to easily (as he did in this game) but he caused plenty of problems for Barcelona’s defence and his finish on Bayern’s third goal was sublime.
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