Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich took a massive step towards the Champions League semifinals with a 2-1 away first leg victory over Sevilla in the quarters. Pablo Sarabia opened the scoring for the hosts, but a Jesus Navas own goal and header from Thiago Alcantara put Bayern in the driver's seat ahead of the return leg in Munich. 

The opening 35 minutes was close to perfection from Sevilla with regards to executing their game plan. Bayern controlled possession from the start, but the likes of Sergio Escudero, Joaquin Correa and Pablo Sarabia showcased the club’s devastating quality on the counter.

With Bayern Munich attacker James Rodriguez returning to Spain to play Sevilla in the Champions League this week, the Spanish media turned its attention to the Real Madrid loanee with a staple of the country’s football coverage: unsubstantiated transfer rumors.

The rumor wasn’t all that juicy, just that Bayern will certainly move to make his loan permanent this summer by activating a clause that was included in the initial two-year loan contract signed last July.

The Champions League quarterfinal matchups are set. At this stage in the competition, there are no bad teams and no teams that are truly out of it (except maybe Sevilla, sorry guys).

The quarterfinal matches will be played April 3-4 and April 10-11.

Real Madrid vs. Juventus

Thomas Muller just about nailed Wednesday's Bayern Munich-Besiktas outcome during a press conference prior to the match.

This is the most German trash talk ever pic.twitter.com/yW3f534COk

— Luke Zimmermann (@lukezim) March 14, 2018