Poor Sven. All he wanted to do was hang out on the Bayern bench and rack up trophies, but then Manuel Neuer had to go and get injured in September. Now, after another Sven Ulreich howler against Real Madrid on Tuesday, the Bayern Munich backup is making a name for himself in all the wrong ways.
Just eight minutes after Joshua Kimmich had given Bayern Munich a dream start at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid restored their aggregate lead (3-2) after a sweeping 28-pass move was finally finished off by Karim Benzema.
In order to advance to the Champions League final, Bayern Munich will have to make history at the Bernabeu. The advantage of hosting the second leg is made most apparent by looking at the record of teams who have needed a comeback after dropping the first leg at home.
Since the 2003-04 season, 18 teams have trailed heading into a Champions League quarterfinal or semifinal second leg on the road. None of those teams have advanced.
While there’s still work to be done to secure its historic “Invincibles” status (most notably Sunday’s El Clasico at the Camp Nou), Barcelona took time off to celebrate its league and cup double on Monday with an open-top bus victory parade through the heart of the city.
A Lionel Messi hat-trick — with all three goals being assisted by Luis Suarez — and a solitary strike from Philippe Coutinho lifted Barcelona to a 4-2 victory over Deportivo on Sunday, securing the club’s 25th La Liga title with four matches still to play.
Real Madrid could yet ruin Barca’s unbeaten domestic campaign in next Sunday’s El Clasico, but a seventh La Liga title in 10 years was a fitting reward for a club that’s currently gone through 34 match days unbeaten (26 wins and 8 draws).
In the midst of a huge clash with Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinals, Real Madrid rested a number of its regular starters for a home match against Leganes, mired in 16th place in LaLiga. The result was an uninspiring 2-1 win for Los Blancos on Saturday at the Bernabeu, one in which the visitors easily could’ve nipped a draw. The Gareth Bale goal vs Leganes was a perfect microcosm of the match for Real Madrid.
Today — Friday, April 27, 2018 — Andres Iniesta confirmed in a press conference at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva that this would well and truly be his final season at the club.
Real Madrid did something you might have noticed in the first leg of its Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich — Los Blancos wore their black kit instead of their traditional white kit. Despite the colors of white and Bayern Munich’s red not clashing, Real Madrid stepped onto the Allianz Arena turf decked out in its black away kit. But why did Madrid wear that kit despite no color clash?
Arsene Wenger is on his way out at Arsenal and it seems the Gunners don’t want to quite give up some of the old Wenger ways. Slapstick defending that harkened back to Arsenal’s worst years under Wenger cost Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid in the semifinal first leg in the Europa League on Thursday at Emirates Stadium in London.
Cristiano Ronaldo is now the player with most UCL victories in the history of the UEFA Champions League.
After Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 1-2 in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, Ronaldo surpassed Íker Casillas, a former Real Madrid teammate, who previously held the record with a total 98 wins in the tournament.
Interestingly, both players have played the majority of their UCL games for Real Madrid.