The retooling of Barcelona is continuing at a frantic pace with the firing of Quique Setién and hiring of Ronald Koeman as manager and the firing of Eric Abidal and hiring of Ramon Planes as technical director, but you can’t say that the club’s specter isn’t still haunting this season’s Champions League with former player Neymar and current loanee Philippe Coutinho set to do battle in the final.
Bayern Munich has no time for trifling sympathies. Bayern Munich is going to destroy everyone in its path.
Serge Gnabry scored twice in the first half and Robert Lewandowski provided his obligatory goal in the second as the German giants stifled Lyon 3-0 on Wednesday in Lisbon to advance to the Champions League final. Bayern will play Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday for the completion of an unorthodox but epic 2020 Champions League season.
Real Madrid’s latest LaLiga title isn’t feeling as special anymore. At least that’s how Toni Kroos is feeling after watching the horror show of Bayern Munich tearing Barcelona limb from limb in the now infamous 8-2 Champions League beatdown.
Kroos messaged fellow German and Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich on WhatsApp saying that the LaLiga title doesn’t feel the same anymore.
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said radical changes were needed from top to bottom after his side were annihilated 8-2 by Bayern Munich on Friday to exit the Champions League in one of the Catalan side's darkest ever nights.
"We feel devastated, although shame is the real word I'm looking for. We cannot afford to compete like this because it's not the first, the second or the third time that something like this has happened," a tearful Pique told reporters after the quarter-final drubbing, their worst ever result in Europe.
In the lead-up to Bayern Munich’s Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona, much was made over Canadian teenager Alphonso Davies’ conversation with his father about playing against his idol growing up, Lionel Messi.
Little did Pops know that Davies would use the opportunity to abuse Messi, Nelson Semedo and the rest of the Barcelona defense to set up one of the best goals of the year en route to a devastating 8-2 win.
It’s impossible to forget Germany’s epic six-goal beatdown of Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. But for those who missed it, the first half of the Barcelona-Bayern Munich Champions League quarterfinal on Friday was a pretty good reenactment.
Bayern Munich relentlessly breached Barcelona’s vulnerable defense en route to a 4-1 halftime lead in Lisbon, stunning a Blaugrana side not used to facing such an onslaught.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen took on Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer in a public spat last year over the Germany goalkeeper's jersey and the confrontation will be played out on the pitch in Friday's Champions League quarterfinal.
Only Lionel Messi can rival Ter Stegen, 28, for the title of Barça's most decisive player in the last few seasons, but his heroics for his club have not been enough to overhaul Neuer, 34, on the international stage.
A flurry of football action filled screens when the sport resumed following months of hiatus due to coronavirus. With major domestic league seasons finished and the Champions League wrapping up in August, it’s hard to believe that football again resumes soon. Fans of German football are already starting to ask when will the next Bundesliga season start. The answer: in one months-time, near the end of September.
There was barely time for the full inquest into Juventus' exit from the Champions League to even begin before the club delivered their own blunt verdict — sacking their coach Maurizio Sarri.
Robert Lewandowski struck twice as Bayern Munich cruised past Chelsea 4-1 on Saturday to reach the Champions League quarterfinals with a 7-1 aggregate victory and remain on course for a treble of titles.
The Bavarians, who won the domestic league and cup double, quickly killed off the tie with a ninth-minute Lewandowski penalty, after having won 3-0 in London in the first leg in February.