Thomas Mueller equalized in the first minute of stoppage-time and Bayern Munich scored two more goals in extra-time to complete a thrilling 4-2 victory over Juventus on Wednesday that sent the German powerhouse into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Thiago Alcantara scored in the 108th minute to put Bayern ahead for good in the second leg match of the last 16 and Kingsley Coman, on loan from Juventus, added the hosts’ fourth goal just two minutes later to seal a 6-4 victory on aggregate.
Bayern trailed 2-0 at halftime after goals from Paul Pogba and Juan Cuadrado put Juventus firmly in charge. The home side looked to be on the way out until Robert Lewandowski scored in the 73rd and Mueller’s late header changed everything.
Photo: EPA
“To score four goals against an Italian side, wow, compliments to my team,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said.
The match, at least in regulation time, was nearly a replica of the first leg in Turin, where Bayern dominated and led 2-0 before Juventus struck back with two late goals to salvage a draw.
Juventus, last season’s runner-up, produced a clever tactical display, defending smartly and relying on dangerous counterattacks, and they were seconds away from success.
“It’s disappointing, because we were so close,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said.
Guardiola’s team, a five-time winner, are in their fifth straight quarter-final.
“After our first goal, we saw that Juventus was not counterattacking any more. It’s that German mentality to try until the end,” Guardiola said.
With Bayern besieging the Italians’ goal, Douglas Costa sent a cross from the right corner and Lewandowski headed home at the far post from close range to put Bayern back into the match.
Bayern’s perseverance paid off in the first minute of added time. Patrice Evra lost the ball near the penalty area and Coman crossed to the far post for Mueller to head home and send the 71,000 at the Allianz arena into frenzied celebrations.
Alcantara, a substitute in extra-time for Franck Ribery, swapped passes and beat Neuer, before Coman, also a substitute, made sure of victory by curling a shot past Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus might have taken Bayern by surprise with their pressing deep inside Bayern’s half from the opening whistle and the Italian side got their dividend early when Pogba scored his first Champions League goal since November 2014.
Sami Khedira sent a long ball down the right and David Alaba missed his clearance attempt.
With Manuel Neuer also mistiming his exit from the goal, Stephan Liechtensteiner was able to square the ball to Pogba, who slotted home from the edge of the penalty area into the empty net.
Juventus pulled back a little after the goal, but always looked dangerous and doubled the lead in the 28th after a great run by Morata.
The forward picked up the ball in his half and slalomed past four defenders before passing to Cuadrado, who fired inside the near post over Neuer.
Buffon parried an effort from Mueller in the 42nd and the attempted clearance by the Juventus defense bounced off Lewandowski and flew just wide.
Immediately after, Neuer did well to save a close-range shot by Cuadrado.
Juventus had former Bayern forward Mario Mandzukic on the bench, while Bayern was without winger Arjen Robben because of a groin problem.
The Italians were already without midfielder Claudio Marchisio, defender Giorgio Chiellini and striker Paulo Dybala, all injured.
Morata had two chances early in the second half after counterattacks, but finished poorly.
Mandzukic came in for Morata in the 71st but Juventus missed Morata’s speed.
Today’s draw will feature Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, SL Benfica, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and VfL Wolfsburg. Teams from the same country can be drawn together.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier