Bayern Munich Destroys Barca En Route to Commanding Lead

Bayern Munich dismantled Barcelona take a 4-0 lead on aggregate (FIFA.com)

I didn't think I'd ever see this day, honestly, the day when this incarnation of Barcelona was outplayed, outclassed, outhustled, and basically out-everythinged on the football pitch.  Bayern Munich accomplished just that though, and did it in absolute style.  The overriding feeling I had watching the match, especially in the second half, was like I was watching a charged up teenager totally dismantle a finely tuned watch or clock.  It really was a spectacle.

Bayern served notice right off the bat, as Barcelona barely had time to try to get their passing game going before the German side was launching an attack at goal.  In the second minute of the match Arjen Robben found the ball in the box and drove a shot in on Victor Valdes, but the Barca 'keeper proved himself awake and alert, stopping the shot and ending the first threat.

Barca got their first look of the match on nine minutes.  Pique got a decent look at the Bayern goal off of a corner kick, but steered his header wide of the target.  It would be pretty much the only first half highlight for Barca, though at that point they must have felt a little better for surviving the early minutes in Munich.

That illusion quickly evaporated in minute 25 though as the Germans took the lead and established one of the themes of the evening: Barca could not deal with balls in from wide, especially in the air.  Bayern defender Dante headed a cross back into the area, where a diving Thomas Muller headed it off of Valdes and inside the near post to give Bayern the 1-0 lead.

Barcelona continued with their style, clearly it wasn't time to panic despite being down a goal fairly early.  They held on to the ball and managed their usual 60+ percent possession, but there really was not a lot of purpose to it.  They came close to finding Messi in the six on 28 minutes, but Dante was alert to the incoming pass and tapped it out for a corner kick, which came to nothing.  That was the last significant action of a first half that finished 1-0 to the home side.

Bayern came out in the second half and immediately turned up the heat on Barca.  The Spanish again found their interior defense exposed in the 49th minute.  Bayern sent in a corner, and this time it was Muller who got the first head to it, dropping it down to Mario Gomez, who neatly dropped the ball into the net from about one yard out to make it 2-0 to the Germans.  Replays showed that Gomez was probably a fraction offside, and it really was close, but the goal stood.

However Bayern were not content and continued to pepper the Barcelona goal with quality chances.  In the 55th minute Robben dropped a nice little ball off to Frank Ribery in the 18, and the Frenchman sent a shot blazing the opposite way across the six.  It was too far out for Victor Valdes to grab, but fortunately for Barca, the ball rolled just wide of the far post.  Then just three minutes later Bayern nearly punished Barcelona on a set piece again as Robben directed a header toward goal off of a free kick.  This one floated wide as well, letting Barca breathe again, for the moment anyway.

Barcelona's best chance of the match came in the the 69th minute.  Defender Marc Bartra got a good look at the goal from an angle, but mishit his shot, sending it floating harmlessly over the crossbar.  One could just hear Barca fans thinking "If only it was one of our other players with that shot."

Following that miss, Bayern iced the match with two goals late on.  In the 73rd minute Robben made a run into the box, getting around a Barcelona defender, and slotting the ball inside the far post to make it 3-0.  It really was class finish by the Dutchman, but again the goal was not without controversy as Thomas Muller threw a clear pick on the Barca defender to help free up Robben.  It probably should have been a foul.

Bayern finally put the nail in the coffin for the match, and probably the whole tie, in the 82nd minute.  Again Bayern beat the Barca defense with a ball in from wide as David Alaba sent a ball across the six.  Muller was there waiting for it and tapped it in for his second goal of the match which made it 4-0 to Bayern Munich, which was still the score at full time.

It really was the finest performances I've seen in all the Champions League matches that I've laid eyes on.  In fact it was kind of tough to watch.  Barcelona certainly had their fair share of the possession (66%), but they could do absolutely nothing with it.  It truly was possession without a purpose.  Barcelona fans will certainly point to the fact that Lionel Messi was not anywhere near 100%.  Now, I'm not a master of tactics, but I'm not sure a healthier Messi would have done all that much good.  One can certainly argue that Messi at full strength would have given Barca's possession more purpose, but unless he was going to go back and play central defense in front of goal as well, I can't say that Bayern could have been stopped when they attacked.  Barca have been exposed from wide and on set pieces constantly during the Champions League this year, but have pretty much always been the better team and able to neutralize the weakness with their passing and possession game, but Bayern was quite obviously a class above anyone else they've played, including AC Milan and PSG.

No, Bayern deserve full credit for this performance, no matter what Messi did or didn't do.  They gummed up the internal works for Barca all day, never letting them get into sync.  Whenever Barca did start to get things going, the Germans were coming in with a hard foul or a slide tackle, taking Barca totally out of their game.

Now Barcelona face an uphill task next week at Camp Nou.  Without a road goal, they'll not only have to beat Bayern by 4, but they'll have to put up a clean sheet as well.  Good luck with that.  Also, Jordi Alba drew a late yellow for hitting Robben in the face with the ball and will now miss that match.  Finally, with the Bundesliga all wrapped up, Bayern Munich will certainly rest their front line players over the weekend so that they'll be fresh and ready to go next Wednesday.

Champions League Roundup: Bayern Drubs Arsenal. Barca Fall

Didier Drogba returned to Champions League Play with Galatasaray (Getty Images)

The second week of knockout action in the UEFA Champions League action certainly provided some interesting results, though not a lot of it along with the pundits' scripts.  Out of the eight teams that played, probably only one really punched their ticket to the next round, but there definitely could be some surprises in store in the second legs.

The action kicked off on Tuesday with Arsenal hosting last year's finalists Bayern Munich at the Emirates in London.  The Gunners were reeling after the weekend saw them drop out of the FA Cup with a home loss to Blackburn.  Sadly for Arsenal supporters, things didn't improve on Tuesday as Bayern were up two goals within 25 minutes courtesy of Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller.

Arsenal did manage to survive until halftime without conceding again, and a stroke of luck awarded them a comeback goal in the second half.  The referee wrongly awarded a corner kick to the Gunners after Santi Cazorla's shot defected off of his own man.  Bayern 'keeper Manuel Neuer totally flubbed on the corner, missing the ball completely.  Arsenal man Lucas Podolski was in the right place at the right time to nod the ball into goal to give Arsenal hope on on 55 minutes, but Matrio Mandzukic struck in minute 77 to ice the match 1-3 to Bayern.  It's tough to see the Gunners going to Germany and making up the deficit, but as Chelsea fans will tell you, stranger things have happened.  However,  I do believe at this point that Bayern are as good as through.

Tuesday's other match took place in Portugal as FC Porto hosted La Liga's Malaga.  Much of the punditry, especially on Fox, gave Malaga the advantage in this one, despite Porto's excellent record at home in Europe.  Malaga have been decent in La Liga this year, but far from world beaters, and to me, they're a bit over-rated. 

Porto controlled the possession 63%-37%, but the match offered few clear chances for either side.  Finally Porto broke through in the second half though.  Portugal international Joao Moutinho took a pass from Alex Sandro, who positioned him well between the final Malaga defender and goalkeeper. From there it was only for Moutinho to side foot the ball into the net to give Porto the 1-0 win.  The hosts would probably have preferred to see a bigger advantage for all their possession, but Malaga will be disappointed not to come away with the away goal.

The shocker of the week came Wednesday at San Siro in Milan as AC Milan hosted Barcelona, who have looked to be a juggernaut in most of their competitions this year.  Barca seemed to sputter a little more than usual against Milan, albeit on an obviously choppy pitch.  Kevin-Prince Boateng put the home side up early in the second half, but in controversial fashion.  Riccardo Montolivo took a shot the quite clearly deflected off the arm of Milan's Christian Zapata, but there was no whistle.  The ball fell to Boateng, who managed to slot past Victor Valdes to give Milan the 1-0 lead on 56 minutes.  Gerard "Mr. Shakira" Pique was booked for dissent after the goal.

There wasn't controversy in the 81st minute though as Sulley Muntari beat Valdes with an excellent finish to make it 2-0 on full time.  The organized Italian side contained Messi for most of the match and their lead is well deserved, despite the obvious talking point.   Certainly Barca are more than capable of making up the ground at Camp Nou, but it might be a bit tougher without the away goal.  Don't bury them yet though.

The final game of the week took place in Turkey as a revitalized Galatasary squad hosted Schalke 04.  With former UCL champions Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba now in the fold, the Turkish side looked to be in good shape for a deep run in the knockout stages.  They even took the lead only 12 minutes in when Burak Yilmaz.  Yilmaz wowed the crowd by flicking the ball over a Schalke defender then banging into the net to get to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Schalke had some other things in mind though.  Right before halftime Jefferson Farfan set up  US International Jermaine Jones after Gala gave the ball away in midfield.  Jones took the pass and calmly beat Gala 'keeper Fernando Muslera to tie the score at 1-1.  It would be the last scoring of the day.  Schalke will be well pleased with the way goal.

There is some controversy surrounding this result as well as Schalke have officially challenged the match with UEFA.  The concern is over Drogba's inclusion in the Galatasaray squad.  Drogba was given a temporary license with UEFA after the Ivorian striker contended that his contract with the Chinese club he joined was void after they failed to pay his wages for three months.  He then joined Galatasaray.  However, there is some dispute over this, and UEFA is investigating the legal status of the contract.  Schalke is contending that Drogba was ineligible to play pending the outcome of this investigation.  I doubt UEFA will do anything given the temporary license, but we'll see.  At any rate, the result is a positive one for the German club.

Puddle's UCL Recap: A Week of Stunners

Edinson Cavani after scoring against Chelsea: AP Images

So it turns out that the UEFA Champions League isn't necessarily as predictable as one might think, judging from this last week's results. I think one wouldn't be blamed for picking Real Madrid, Chelsea, Inter, and Bayern Munich to go through from the teams that played this week, but they all either lost or were drawn into a late draw. Here's my recap of the action for the week.

CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid
I think Madrid knew they were in for a tough match in Russia against CSKA. All one has to do is look at the Zenit vs. Benfica game last week to tell how difficult the conditions are in Russia this time of year. Even so, Madrid controlled the match fairly easily. Cristiano Ronaldo scored first on 28 minutes, blasting a shot in after a cross from Fabio Coentrao. In the second half, Madrid had several chances to put it away, notably from Ozil and Ronaldo, but couldn't get the ball into the back of the net again.

This set up the week's first dramatics. Late in stoppage time Aleksei Berezutski passed up a shot on target and passed over to Pontus Wernbloom, who shot before the Madrid defense could switch over and beat Casillas from 7 yards to seal the draw, 1-1. Still Madrid have the away goal, so one would suspect with the next leg of the tie in Spain, they should still advance.

Napoli vs. Chelsea
Okay, this one was tough to even watch the highlights of, let alone write about as a Chelsea FC fan. I'm not sure what's going on under AVB, but it's not quality football. Especially at the back. The Blues actually jumped on top first in this one, with Juan Mata snatching a goal on 27 minutes. After that, Chelsea's defense fell apart, and the match became a nightmare.

Napoli equalized in the 38th minute. Ezequiel Lavezzi blasted home a shot from distance after being left totally alone by the Chelsea defense. Edinson Cavani gave the Italian side the lead right before half time, with a header/body shot that could have been a handball. David Luiz cucked up yet again in the 65th minute by kicking the ball right to Cavani, who passed to Lavezzi. Lavezzi then completed his brace by tapping into the relatively empty net to make the final 3-1.

This result and player selection has finally turned me totally against AVB. He is just not ready for this type of pressure yet, in my opinion. Still, the Blues aren't out of it, if they can get their defense to get better. A 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge would see them through, and they are more than capable of that.

FC Basel vs Bayern Munich
This one was really the shocker of the week, as Basel absolutely STUNNED the German giants. It really was a good match, with Basel showing a lot of attacking intent despite the edge in possession for Bayern. Basel in even hit the woodwork twice in the first half.

Both defenses tightened down in the second half, allowing for far fewer chances. Still, Basel found their breakthrough in the 86th minute. The German defense collapsed a little bit, and Jacques Zoua was able to find Valentin Stocker unmarked on the left side. He nutmegged Bayern 'keeper Manuel Neuer to give the Swiss side a 1-0 win. Still, Bayern should feel fairly confident heading home as well.

Marseille vs. Inter Milan
It's always tough to play Marseille in France, but one has to think Inter should have done better here. They too were shocked late. Inter was anxious all night long and allowed Marseille plenty of looks. Both Forlan and Schneider had major chances as well, but once again Inter was not amongst the goals.

The French took the win literally on the last kick of match. Andre Ayew snuck away from Chivu and headed in a corner kick to make it 1-0 and disappoint Inter once again. Still, like Bayern and Madrid, Inter should fancy their chances going back to the San Siro, but they'll need to tighten things up quite a bit.

UCL: FC Zurich vs. Bayern Munich

So if you read my match blog about the Bayern vs. Zurich tie from last week, you know I had high hopes about this leg. I was hoping that back in front of their home support, Zurich would put up a fight.

Well, that didn't happen.

Bayern iced it early. Mario Gomez, who missed so many chances last week, iced it early on in this one. In the 7th minute, Bayern came up the field with a nice looking counter attack. Gomez got on the ball and calmly dispatched the Zurich 'keeper to make 0-1 and 0-3 on aggregate.

Seriously folks, that's all she wrote. After that, Bayern kicked the ball around a lot and Zurich looked positively frightened of the ball.

Needless to say, Bayern will advance to the Champions League group stage and Zurich will take their, um, "game" to the Europa League. Maybe there the competition won't dwarf them. Lame.

UCL: Bayern Munich vs. FC Zurich

The two cities of Munich and Zurich are only separated by about 150 miles. Zurich had a noisy contingent at the stadium in Munich, unfortunately, they didn't see much great football from either side.

What they saw was a battle played largely in midfield, with Munich getting chances and missing most of them. It certainly wasn't impressive at all.

That being said, Munich jumped on top in the early going. In the 8th minute, Arjen Robben sent a nice ball in that found Bastian Schweinsteiger. The German international calmly volleyed it home to give Munich the 1-0 lead.

Did Zurich have chances? Not really. They did get one header off a free kick late in the first half, but it was headed right in to the waiting hands of Bayern 'keeper Neuer. Maybe Bayern fans will start to think he's worth the price tag. At least they didn't get David De Gea.

The pattern of not much football continued in the second half. Every time Munich got a chance, they blew it. It started to look like Zurich would weather the storm for the most part. That changed late though, again coming off the foot of Arjen Robben. In the 72nd minute, the Bayern attacker slipped his marker near the top of the area and smacked the ball into the top corner far post to seal the 2-0 win for the German side.

All in all, 2 goals, no away goals conceded, it looks like job done for Munich. However, much like Arsenal, they failed to really play impressive football that would make them look like a possibility for going deep into the tournament. Zurich would have been better off not conceding the second goal, but the tie is far from over.

Bundesliga Blurb: Bayern Munich vs, Borussia Monchengladbach

Ok, so I'm still a little new to this Bundesliga thing. I only get what ESPN 3 gives me. I did manage to take in two matches in week 1, and enjoyed them both.

This was my first chance to see Bayern outside of Champions League play. They were a pretty fun bunch to watch, and it looked like the atmosphere in the stadium was great. In the off-season, they signed 'keeper Manuel Neuer away from Schalke. Kind of pissed me off, but I doubted Schalke would be able to hold him.

Monchengladbach has not had the best of luck against Bayern. They had only won at Bayern once in Bundesliga history coming into this match. Last year Bayern edged into the Champions League play-in spot, while Gladbach needed a playoff to avoid relegation.

Munich, as predicted, had most of the possession, particularly in the first half. However, the longer the match wore on without quality chances, the more confident Gladbach got. Plus, lets face it, Gladbach's defense was doing a pretty awesome job.

Unfortunately for Munich, their defense didn't. A defensive blunder coupled with a blunder from their shiny new keeper cost them three points. Gladbach put a rather harmless looking ball into the Munich 18 in the 62nd minute. Boateng, he of ManCity fame, totally missed it and Neuer whiffed on his punch. Igor De Carmago was there to capitalize and gave Gladbach the 0-1 win.

All things being equal, not the best match I've ever seen, but entertaining. I hope to check out more Bundesliga throughout the season.