10 April 2013
BARCELONA 1 (Pedro 71)
PSG 1 (Pastore 50)
Pedro should have given Barcelona the lead but put a loose ball wide of the left post. PSG finished the first half the stronger. Lavezzi and Pastore should have made more of an Ibrahimovic through ball and cross. Barcelona screwed up playing offside on the half way line and Ibrahimovic released Pastore who waited for Valdes to go to ground before lifting the ball into the right corner. Excellent finish. That annoying little shit Messi came off the bench on the 60 minute mark and the Barcelona attack suddenly came to life. Sirigu made a brilliant save to deny Iniesta. Villa laid off a Messi pass to Pedro who rifled a first time shot past Sirigu.
Match is tied 3-3 on aggregate. Barcelona win on away goals.
Attendance : 96,022
Assists : Ibrahimovic, Villa
JUVENTUS 0
BAYERN MUNICH 2 (Mandzukic 64, Pizarro 91)
Juve may have made a game of this had Neuer not brilliantly saved a first half Pirlo free kick. Martinez forced Buffon into a great point blank save from a Schweinsteiger free kick but Mandzukic threw himself at the rebound to head Bayern into the semi-finals. Juve then suffered the ignominy of conceding a goal to Mr. Mediocre Pizarro.
Conte played the victim card after the match claiming Juventus couldn't compete with Bayern citing their finances as one of the reasons. This is of course horeshit. The main reasons for Juve's elimination were Buffon's embarrassingly poor display in Munich and Juve's dear in headlights performance for which Conte takes the blame for failing to inspire the team.
Bayern Munich win 4-0 on aggregate.
Attendance : 40,823
Assists : n/a, Schweinsteiger
9 April 2013
DORTMUND 3 (Lewandowski 40, Reus 91, Santana 93)
MALAGA 2 (Joaquin 25, Eliseu 82)
Malaga took advantage of their hosts charitable finishing to take a seemingly commanding lead before a sensational injury time turnaround sent them crashing out of Europe. Joaquin played a one-two with Isco, the young midfielder returning the ball with a back heel, Joaquin sent a defender sprawling with a superb dummy before firing inside the right post. Reus split the Malaga defence with an extravagant back heel volley and Lewandowski spared Caballero a red card by dancing past him as he dived in with an insane two footed tackle before tapping into an empty net. Eliseu restored Malaga's lead with an offside goal but the officials were just as inept at the other end. A longball caused panic in the Malaga defence, Caballero flew off his line, Gamaz chopped down Santana as he tried to attack Subotic's centre and Reus fired into an empty net. Gundogan swung a cross into the box, Demichelis headed across goal, Reus hammered a shot against Schieber and Santana threw himself at the ball to turn it over the line, from an offside position.
Attendance : 65,829
Assists : Isco, Reus, Julio Baptista, Santana, Schieber
GALATASARAY 3 (Eboue 58, Sneijder 70, Drogba 72)
REAL MADRID 2 (Ronaldo 7, Ronaldo 93)
Galatasaray's Europa League defence failed to pick-up Ronaldo, despite outnumbering him 4-1 as he converted a Khedira centre. Galatasaray's rejects got their side to within a goal of extra time with a 14 minute blitz. Eboue ran onto an overhit Sneijder centre to blast Galatasaray level. Sneijder touched a pass through the legs of a Real Madrid defender before running through to score having missed a much easier chance minutes earlier. Drogba made it 3-4 on aggregate with an outrageous back heel but Galatasaray couldn't force a fourth and in injury time Benzema seized on a dreadful mistake to lay on Ronaldo's second.
Attendance : 49,975
Red Card : Arbeloa 90 (Real Madrid)
Assists : Khedira, Sneijder, Sarioglu, Amrabat, Benzema
3 April 2013
MALAGA 0
DORTMUND 0
Attendance : 28,963
Assists : n/a
REAL MADRID 3 (Ronaldo 9, Benzema 29, Higuain 73)
GALATASARAY 0
As Muslera, no stranger to poor decisions, ran off his line to close down Ronaldo he watched a lob sail over his head and into an empty net. Superb finish. Essien found Benzema free at the back post and he trapped his cross before tapped in Real Madrid's second. Real Madrid's other second rate striker, Higuain, emphatically headed in a Xabi Alonso free kick.
Far too easy though given Galatasaray's defending in previous games did anyone really expect anything less?
Attendance : 80,000
Assists : Ozil, Essien, Xabi Alonso (fk)
2 April 2013
PSG 2 (Ibrahimovic 79, Matuidi 94)
BARCELONA 2 (Messi 38, Xavi 89 Pen)
Barcelona were lucky not to fall behind in the fifth minute when Busquets turned a Lavezzi shot against a post. Valdes was forced into a great save from an Ibrahimovic free kick and the giant Swede wasted a great chance on a counter attack as PSG continued to boss the first half. PSG failed to clear their lines from a corner and the ball came out to Alves, he found Messi with a magnificent crossfield pass with the outside of his right foot and Messi half volleyed a shot into the corner. Messi went off with a hamstring injury five minutes later. Dirty cheat Alves should have been booked for 'accidentally' kicked Tiago Silva in the head after he fell when challenging for a ball. Anyone who looks like Alves and has the arrogance to tattoo their name across their chest is a grade A prick. Ibrahimovic missed from six yards but made amends minutes later when putting away a rebound from an offside position after Thiago Silva headed a Maxwell free kick against a post. Sirigu grabbed diver Sanchez by the ankle as he bore down on goal and he made sure his former team-mate paid for his stupidity by going over. In injury time Jallet lobbed a high ball upto Ibrahimovic and Matuidi hammered his knock down in off Barta. It was the very least PSG deserved.
Attendance : 45,000
Assists : Dani Alves, n/a, Sanchez (won pen), Ibrahimovic
BAYERN MUNICH 2 (Alaba 30 seconds, Muller 63)
JUVENTUS 0
Two Buffon mistakes put Bayern Munich is a strong position to reach the last four against a surprisingly timid Juventus side. Pirlo gave the ball to Schweinsteiger with a lazy pass and he rolled the ball to Alaba who was about 40 yards from goal, his speculative shot took a minor deflection off Vidal but as Buffon had inexplicably committed early into diving to his right he couldn't adjust in time as the ball bounced into the left post. Robben tried his luck from distance, Buffon failed to hold what should have been a routine catch and Mandzukic rolled the ball across for Muller to tap-in Bayern's second. Juve failed to trouble Neuer in the Bayern goal.
Of the players suspended for the return Vidal is by far the biggest loss. Pogba is a fantastic talent but more on the offensive side. It's hard to believe Juve will play as poorly as they did in the return leg but a 2-0 deficit with no away goals is awfully hard to turn around at this stage of the competition.
Attendance : 66,000
Assists : n/a, Mandzukic