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Muscle games: Joshua Kimmich scored Bayern’s fifth goal against FC Barcelona
Source: AFP / MANU FERNANDEZ
It was a show of force. FC Bayern humiliated FC Barcelona and made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League without any problems. There the Munich could meet an old friend.
Dhat was triple-ripe! Led by record player Thomas Müller, FC Bayern rolled over the glorious FC Barcelona in a crazy peat festival and finally catapulted itself into the role of favorites in the final tournament of the Champions League. In the fabulous 8: 2 (4: 1) in the quarter-finals against the Catalans with a disenchanted world footballer Lionel Messi, the Munich team played in such a way, especially in the first half hour, that memories of the 7-1 triumph of the national team against Brazil at the 2014 World Cup came up.
“You can’t quite compare that. We didn’t have it under control against Brazil. We were brutally dominant against Barcelona. We can fall asleep with a smile, ”said offensive player Thomas Müller, who was in three games in Brazil at the time.
Bayern coach Hansi Flick was Joachim Löw’s assistant in 2014, and now the 55-year-old is facing his triple crowning in Portugal. Thomas Müller (4th and 31st minute), Ivan Perisic (22nd) and Serge Gnabry (28th) overcame national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in the Barça goal in the first third of the game almost at will. Joshua Kimmich (63rd), Robert Lewandowski (82nd) with his 14th premier class goal this season and Barça loan from Philippe Coutinho (85th and 89th) followed suit in the no longer exciting second half. It was the highest victory in a quarter-finals in Champions League history.
Munich’s defense chief David Alaba, who made an own goal to 1: 1 in the 7th minute, and Luis Suárez (57th) met for Barcelona. In their twelfth premier class semi-final, Bayern will meet Manchester City with ex-coach Pep Guardiola or Olympique Lyon next Wednesday. A German final on August 23 against RB Leipzig, which will play against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, is no longer a vision in Portugal.
Müller starts at Bayern’s goal gala
After a short training camp in the Algarve, Bayern arrived with gigantic self-confidence – but the record champions had to survive an almost dramatic early phase. There was nothing to be seen of the usual tactics in a knockout game in the almost deserted Estádio da Luz. Müller scored in his 113th outing, which made him the German premier class player, after a nice one-two with Lewandowski, the early lead. But then came Barcelona first.
On the left side, Jordi Alba forced Alaba to do his unsuccessful rescue in front of the bullet-ready Suárez. His attempt five minutes later, national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer parried brilliantly (9th), seconds later a Messi cross hit the post (10th). Only then did Bayern have the game completely under control and played “Bayern-like”. Messi, on the other hand, seemed more and more listless the longer the game played. “Our pressing was brutal, we didn’t let the 1: 1 get us off the ground and let it dissuade us, that was the key. After that we went into a frenzy, ”said midfielder Leon Goretzka.
Shortly after the Argentine’s first, but ineffective, solo (20th), Gnabry, who repeatedly caused danger with his speed and aggressiveness, conquered the ball and passed it on to Perisic. The Croat, who scored in the round of 16 against Chelsea, opted for a strong shot instead of the cross, which Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen was unable to deflect decisively.
The 28-year-old, who actually wanted to collect points in a private duel with Neuer for the DFB goal, experienced very bitter minutes. Only Gnabry with his seventh premier class goal of the current season after a lob from the very present Leon Goretzka and then again record man Müller, who scored three times in the semifinals on the way to the triple against Barcelona in 2013, ensured the break. “What a first half,” tweeted Bayern newcomer Leroy Sané, who is not eligible to play in Portugal.
The Catalans, for whom the French world champion Antoine Griezmann only came on in the second half, repeatedly had problems with the force of Munich, who were able to slow their pace in the meantime. Messi, often closely followed by the young Alphonso Davies, tried again and again to drop into his own half to get the ball in front of the Bayern goal. It did not help.
In the phase when the game seemed to calm down, Suarez scored. But then Davies started the world-class dribbling on the left side into the penalty area and fitted Kimmich perfectly to Bayern’s fifth goal. “I was almost ashamed of how happy I was after the goal. The Alphonsos goal was 99 percent. I just had to push it in, ”said Kimmich.
Barcelona showed signs of disintegration. It became a dismantling. For the first time since the 2006/07 season there is now a semi-final in the Champions League without Spanish clubs. Good omen too: if Bayern threw FC Barcelona out of the European Cup knockout phase, then Munich finally won the trophy – in 1996 the Uefa Cup and in 2013 the handle pot in the Champions League.
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