UEFA Champions League
LIVE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: BARCELONA 2-8 BAYERN MUNICH; 1st TIME BARCA CONCEDE 8 IN EUROPE!
Setien’s last game in charge of Barcelona?
89MINS: Gooooal!
Gooooal!
Coutinho (Bayern) scores
Coutinho (Bayern) scores! Barcelona 2-7 Bayern Munich
GOAL – Barcelona 2-6 Bayern Munich
Robert Lewandowski
Barcelona have conceded six goals in a European match for the first time since losing 5-4 to Levski Sofia in March 1976 in the UEFA Cup. Drubbing.
63MINS: GOAL – Barcelona 2-5 Bayern Munich
GOAL! Barcelona 2-5 BAYERN MUNICH
Magic from Alphonso Davies, what a star this lad is! On the wing from a standing start, he skips past Nelson Semedo along the byline, and also sees off the challenge from Gerard Pique before laying the ball back for Josh Kimmich to tap home. The celebrations though are with the Canadian who let’s face it did 90 per cent of the work.
58mins: Gooooaaal!!!!! Barcelona fighting back through Luiz Suarez
Barcelona 2-4 Bayern
53 mins
DISALLOWED GOAL
Barcelona 1-4 Bayern Munich
Striker Robert Lewandowski taps in from Thomas Muller’s pull-back, but the midfielder was miles offside. The assistant waited for the play to be… played out.
There are howls and jeers from the piped crowd
Meanwhile Luis Suarez goes into the book for clipping Thiago.
46 MINS: Substitution. Griezmann (in) – Sergi Roberto (out) (Barcelona)
Thomas Müller has now scored 23 goals in the Champions League knockout stages, the third-most of any player behind Cristiano Ronaldo (67) and Lionel Messi (47). Stage.
2nd Half resumes
Can Barcelona turn this game around?
They will need a miracle to achieve that. This is the first time in the club’s history that Barcelona concedes four goals in first half.
They only need three goals to get back on level terms, but the way they are defending they are probably going to need seven goals in this next 45 minutes.
HALF-TIME
Barcelona 1-4 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich are too slick, too powerful, too clever, too efficient.
31MINS GOOOOALL!!!!!! Thomas Muller.
29MINS: Gooooal! Gnabry (Bayern) scores!
22MINS: GOAAAL : Perišić (Bayern) scores!
13min: The end-to-end action continues as Robert Lewandowski has a shot that falls off target. Maybe he should take shooting tips from Muller, who showed how it was done earlier.
BAYERN 1-1 BARCELONA
Match summary
- Alaba slices own goal to level scores
- Müller hits opener after team move
- Boateng, Neuer deny Luis Suárez
- Winners vs Man. City/Lyon in semi-finals
GOAL! BARCELONA 1-1 Bayern Munich: David Alaba scores an own goal!
GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 BAYERN MUNICH
3min: Barcelona are in an unusual set-up of just sitting off their opponents in this early stage but they create the first dangerous moment of the tie.
Lionel Messi finds space to run into on the right but his ball into the centre is crucially cleared by Jerome Boateng with Luis Suarez ready to convert.
Tonight’s referee Damir Skomina was in charge of the second leg in 2013 when Bayern won 3-0 at Barcelona to reach the final.Update;
· Bayern name unchanged starting XI
· Busquets and Vidal in for Barcelona
· Rakitić, Griezmann drop to bench
· Winners vs Man. City/Lyon in semi-finals
Kick off! The match is under way. It’s Barcelona getting us underway in Lisbon
The players are out on the pitch, which can only mean one thing – it’s official UEFA Champions League anthem time.
Bayern Munich and Barcelona clash in one of the highlight ties of the Champions League quarter-finals as the European giants go head-to-head for a place in the final four.
Bayern Munich’s demolition of Chelsea in the last-16 makes them slight favourites heading into the tie at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz ground in Lisbon, but Barca can never be written off while they have Lionel Messi in their ranks.
It is potentially the final before the final match as Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona clash in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.
· Barcelona starting XI: Ter Stegen, Nelson Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Busquets, de Jong, Vidal, Messi, Suarez
· Bayern Munich starting XI: Neuer, Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies, Thiago, Goretzka, Gnabry, Muller, Perisic, Lewandowski
BUILD UP TO TITANIC CLASH OF BARCA & BAYERN
- Barcelona and Bayern Munich have both reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the 18th time (in 24 and 23 appearances respectively), more than any other team.
- Barcelona are in the quarter-finals for the 13th consecutive year – that is every season since 2007-08, a record in the history of the competition.
- Barcelona have lost more Champions League games against Bayern than any other club, losing five of their eight matches against them (W2 D1).
- Barcelona have lost just two of their last 31 Champions League matches (W19 D10) and are unbeaten in this season’s competition (W5 D3); they are one of only three teams still yet to taste defeat this season, along with opponents Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
- Bayern striker Lewandowski has scored 13 goals in just seven Champions League appearances this season, averaging a goal every 47 minutes – in the history of the European Cup/Champions League, this is the best minutes per goal ratio in a single campaign of players to play at least 500 minutes that season.
UEFA Champions League
David strikes as Lille end Real’s long unbeaten run
A first-half penalty earned Lille a shock 1-0 home victory over holders Real Madrid in the Champions League group phase on Wednesday, ending the 15-times European Cup winners’ 14-game unbeaten run in the competition.
Jonathan David converted from the spot three minutes into first-half stoppage time to hand Real, who had not lost in their previous 36 matches in all competitions, their first defeat since January.
The result put Ligue 1 side Lille on three points from two games in the new format of Europe’s premier club competition.
Real, who won their opening match against VfB Stuttgart, are also on three points.
“On the penalty, I try to focus, to keep calm to take a good shot but I’m confident when it comes to taking penalties,” David said. “It has not sunk in yet but it’s a memorable night.”
Real keeper Andriy Lunin said his team had lacked their usual aggression.
“It’s difficult to analyse right after. (We lacked) aggression, creativity, in the end, what we always have,” he said.
“To fight a bit more. In the second half we showed more desire, but in the first half we were worse, that’s obvious. We want to win because we know what colours we’re playing in. But that’s OK. Courage, keep working and prepare for the next game.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s side started with Kylian Mbappe, who joined from Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain in June, on the bench after the France captain picked up a muscle injury last week.
Real’s Vinicius Jr. had the first chance with a low shot in the sixth minute as the visitors controlled the pace and the second came when Endrick’s close-range attempt was blocked by Lucas Chevalier.
Lille went close to opening the scoring after 26 minutes when Andriy Lunin made a spectacular double save to deny David, first from the forward’s header, then by tipping away the Canadian’s follow-up shot.
Their relentless pressure paid off in stoppage time when Eduardo Camavinga handled Edon Zhegrova’s free kick.
A VAR review ensued and David confidently converted the resulting penalty.
The hosts continued to apply pressure in the second half, refusing to sit back and wait as Real enjoyed possession, cutting off the supply to England midfielder Jude Bellingham.
Ancelotti sent Mbappe and Luka Modric on to replace Endrick and Eder Militao and Lille survived a late Real onslaught to hang on for the victory.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Ancelotti makes no excuses after Real’s shock defeat at Lille
Defending champions Real Madrid failed to show the best version of themselves in a shock 1-0 Champions League defeat at Lille on Wednesday and must accept the criticism that comes their way, manager Carlo Ancelotti said.
Lille pressed relentlessly and took the win courtesy of a Jonathan David penalty in first-half stoppage time to hand Ancelotti’s team their first defeat in all competitions since January.
Real Madrid – record 15-times Champions League winners – have three points after two matches following their opening win over VfB Stuttgart.
“Everything was pretty bad. We did badly with the ball, although the team was quite compact in the first half, it was difficult for us to recover the ball, it was difficult for us to make transitions,” Ancelotti told reporters.
“We tried to be a little more aggressive, but it was difficult for us. So… We have to look at things with a cool head, not throw everything away. But obviously we have to improve.
“I am very sincere. The criticism for today’s game is fair, correct and we have to accept it because it is like that. We have not shown a good version in this game.”
Ancelotti said Lille “deserved” to win despite Real’s improved showing in the second half of the match.
“It was difficult for us to get into the game at the level of intensity, at the level of duels, at the level of clarity of play,” the Italian added.
“Obviously, the game could have been tied because we had opportunities at the end, but it wasn’t deserved.
“So we have to learn, as it happened the last time we lost a game, learn from what we have to improve, which is quite clear. I think it’s not very complicated.”
Real, who are second in the LaLiga standings with 18 points, next host third-placed Villarreal on Saturday.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Lookman shines as Atalanta outclass Shakhtar
Ademola Lookman scored one goal and was heavily involved in the other two to drive Atalanta to a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday as the Italians outclassed their Ukrainian opponents in Gelsenkirchen.
Atalanta have four points from two games, having held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in their opening match, and Shakhtar remained on one point, after they played out a scoreless draw in the first game against Italian side Bologna.
Atalanta went ahead in the 21st minute when Lookman curled a cross into the area which found Berat Djimsiti in front of goal and he controlled the ball before poking it past the keeper.
Atalanta doubled the lead a minute before the break when Sead Kolasinac squared a pass to Lookman in the middle of the area and the Nigerian struck a first-time shot through the legs of his marker Marlon Gomes into the bottom corner of the net.
The game was all but over as a contest three minutes into the second half after Lookman played the ball out wide to Davide Zappacosta and his cross into the six-yard box was headed home by Raoul Bellanova.
At 3-0, Lookman, who also hit the crossbar in the first half, was taken off with over half an hour to play, his work done for the night and the tie ended with the same scoreline as the last time the sides met in the Champions League in 2019.
-Reuters
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