The first semi-final of the UEFA champions league took place yesterday and we witnessed one Spanish team on the losing side, can we expect the same today? or will this Spanish side prevail against the mighty Germans.
Fixtures like these don't happen often, hence it creates anticipation, anxiety pretty much all kinds of emotions for football fans. This fixture promises to not disappoint. Both teams with star studded line-ups. Both of these teams are doing exceptionally well in their domestic leagues with Bayern already having won the Bundesliga this season and for the record 25th time. Barcelona sit in pole position two points ahead of rivals Real Madrid with only a couple of games left to play. Barcelona have a chance of winning the treble this season but it's all up to the team's focus and determination.
What's going to make this fixture even more special is that current Bayern boss Pep Guardiola is coming to Camp Nou a place where his made himself a name not only as a player but also a coach for the Catalan side from 2008 up till 2012 in that time winning 12 trophies as a coach a record for most number of trophies won ever by a Barcelona Coach. It will a bitter sweet moment for the Bayern boss but at the same it will business as usual and you would suspect him to have an edge as he has managed most of the players in the Barcelona team and would know their game and playing styles. The same would be for Barca boy Thiago Alcantara who spent a couple of seasons for Barcelona but found it hard as he was sidelined with injuries as well as he found it hard to break into the first team and his switch to Germany also did not help his cause having been sidelined for most part of the season with injury came back strong and scored in last two Champions League games. Also friends (Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola) playing together for Barcelona now are enemies.Luis Enrique the coach appointed this year by Barcelona has bought in some smart signings like Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez, Ter Stegen and Mathieu who all have been very influential this season. In the league Barcelona have lost 4 games and have drawn three and in their 35 games the have scored 105 goals averaging a staggering 3 goals a game and have conceded only 19 goals all season which is impressive. Pep Guardiola and his men have lost only three time and have drawn 4 times in their domestic season scoring 77 goals and have conceded only 15 goals. Both teams have been not only attacking minded but also defensively airtight leaking in just few goals.
In their road to the Champions league semi-finals they both topped their respective groups with the same points i.e. 15 points both teams losing on of their group stage games. Barcelona faced Manchester City in the round of sixteen beating them 3 - 1 on aggregate. In the quarter-finals Barcelona faced their usual suspects PSG and they dismantled the French side winning 5-1 in aggregate. Bayern Munich faced Shakhtar Donetsk having drawn away Bayern destroyed the Ukrainian side in their home leg beating them 7 - 0. In the quarter-finals Bayern were drawn up against the Portuguese side Porto although having lost the first leg 3 -1 away mainly due to some horrible defending the Germans turned the tie around at home obliterating the Portuguese side 6 -1.
Barcelona in the Champions league have scored a total of 23 and have conceded only 7 goals in their games. Barcelona averaging 2.3 goals a game and at home in their five Champions league fixtures they scored a total of ten goals averaging two goals a game at Champions League fixtures. Bayern Munich averages 3 goals per game in their Champions League fixtures, in their away matches the German side have scored a total of 11 goals an average similar to the Spanish side as per goals per game at their away fixtures.
The top scorers for Barcelona are:1.) Lionel Messi with 8 goals 2.) Luis Suarez with 6 goals3.) Neymar with 6 goals
The top scorers for Bayern Munich are:1.) Thomas Muller with 6 goals2.) Robert Lewandowski with 5 goals3.) Marion Goetze with 4 goals
The key players for both teams:
Injury woes for both sides:
Barcelona: Mathieu (Achilles)
Bayern Munich: Badstuber (thigh), Alaba (knee), Robben (calf), Ribéry (ankle), Rode (muscular problems), Starke (ankle), Lewandowski (face)-doubtful
Possible Line-ups:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Rakitić, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar.
Bayern Munich: Neuer; Rafinha, Boateng, Benatia, Bernat; Lahm, Alonso, Thiago Alcántara; Müller, Lewandowski, Götze.
These two big European clubs have faced each other a total of nine times in this format and the German side has come out on top winning this fixture five times and Barcelona winning this only twice and both these teams have drawn twice. The last times these two sides met in the Champions League was in the 2012-2013 season in the semi-finals where Bayern Munich at that time crushed Pep's Barcelona side winning with an aggregate of both the legs 7 - 0. Barcelona have won four UCL titles and Bayern Munich have won five.
I'm sure the entire footballing world would not expecting Bayern Munich to crush Barcelona again. Considering that both teams are in good form but in Bayern Munich's case many key players injured but enough depth in squad to fill up these positions. It's going to be a mouth watering contest and i certainly can't wait for it.
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