French playmaker Franck Ribery ensured Bayern Munich exited the Champions League with at least some dignity as the German giants held Barcelona 1-1 in Tuesday’s quarter-final second-leg.
Having come to Munich with a virtually unassailable 4-0 advantage from the first-leg at the Camp Nou, Barcelona go through 5-1 on aggregate to book their semi-final show-down against Chelsea.
“We are pleased to be in the semi-finals, we still have a lot of games to get through before we can think of Chelsea,” said Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola.
PHOTO: AP
“They are a good side, but we need to go and look at the Bayern game first and look at how we played, there are areas to improve,” he said.
No side in the competition’s history had ever over-turned a four goal deficit and Bayern were always going to need a miracle to reach the last four.
Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann was booed by his own fans before kick-off, but this result, on the back of the weekend’s 4-0 win over Frankfurt in the German league, will have taken some of the pressure off the ex-Germany coach.
“We wanted an early goal, then anything could have been possible, but we have lacked the little bit of luck,” Klinsmann said. “The team gave a good account of themselves against one of the teams who are favorite to take the Champions League title.”
And the Bayern players could at least hold their heads high having matched the Catalans.
“We were much better in the personal duels, things were a bit more normal, and we played the way you need to against such a good team,” said Germany defender Philipp Lahm. “But unfortunately we have still lost the tie.”
Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer — who was scathing after the first-leg debacle — said the Germans had gone some way to redemption.
“I think the team has rehabilitated itself, although Barcelona’s equalizing goal was needlessly conceded,” Beckenbauer said.
After going close in the first-half, Ribery finally unpicked the Barcelona defense on 47 minutes before Seydou Keita equalized for the Spanish with less than 20 minutes left.
No Spanish side has ever won the treble of league, Kings Cup and Champions League, but Barcelona are on course to take all three.
A fever removed one of Bayern’s chief tormentors from the second leg here as striker Thierry Henry succumbed to a high temperature, but Guardiola retained a three-prong attack with Andres Iniesta pushed further upfield.
Germany strikers Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose were both ruled out with calf and ankle injuries respectively leaving Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni as the lone forward with Ribery playing just behind him.
Gloria Gaynor’s hit I Will Survive echoed around Munich’s Allianz Arena before kick-off, but Bayern went one better than survival as they matched a Barcelona side who looked to believe the tie was already won.
Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o had both scored early goals in the first-leg to leave Bayern 2-0 down after 12 minutes, but it was the Germans who started brighter in Munich.
Both Ribery and Toni went close in the first-half, but both blasted their shots over the bar as it stayed 0-0 at the interval.
Immediately after the break a great pass from Ze Roberto split the Barca’s defense and Ribery skipped inside the penalty area before rifling his shot past goalkeeper Victor Valdes on 47 minutes.
It looked as though Bayern were heading for a win before Barcelona awoke from their slumber and showed their true class.
Iniesta and Eto’o combined in the Bayern penalty area and midfielder Xavi Hernandez pulled a pass back to Keita whose shot gave Butt no chance as it ended honors even.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
RSS