Tag: bayern munich

Bayern Munich to face PSG, Real Madrid vs Liverpool in Champions League last eight | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Holders Bayern Munich will face the team they beat in last year’s Champions League final in this season’s quarter-finals after being paired with Paris St Germain in Friday’s draw.
In the other standout tie of the last eight 13-time champions Real Madrid face six-time winners Liverpool in a repeat of the 2018 final won by the Spanish club.
Runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City, seeking their first Champions League title, will play Borussia Dortmund with the winners to face Bayern or PSG in the semi-finals.
There is also the prospect of an all English semi-final after Chelsea were drawn to play Porto with the prize for the winners a clash with Real Madrid or Liverpool.
The Qatari owners of PSG have invested fortunes into trying to conquer the Champions League and came tantalisingly close last season when they reached the final only for Bayern’s Kingsley Coman to break their hearts with the only goal in Lisbon.
Since then manager Thomas Tuchel has gone and been replaced by Mauricio Pochettino who took Tottenham Hotspur to the 2019 Champions League final where they lost to Liverpool.
Pochettino now faces a daunting task if he is to deliver the prize the Parisian club desire so badly.
Bundesliga leaders Bayern reached the quarter-final for a record 19th time by cruising past Lazio 6-2 on aggregate and will provide a formidable barrier.
Liverpool’s Premier League title defence crumbled long ago but if anything can rouse the Anfield club it is a clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Juergen Klopp’s side are languishing in sixth place in the Premier League, 25 points behind Manchester City, and with no guarantee of a top-four finish they might need to win a seventh European crown just to get back in the competition.
Chelsea, unbeaten in 13 games since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard, may feel they have got the easier option in Porto who they have beaten in five of their eight previous meetings.
Yet while Chelsea’s clinical defeat of Atletico Madrid in the last 16 was impressive, so was the way Porto knocked out Juventus in a thriller and the Portuguese side will take that belief into their clash with the London club.
Should Chelsea and Liverpool both progress it would be the fourth time they have met in the Champions League semis.
Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners have made winning the Champions League the priority in their masterplan and will feel this could be their year.
After a sluggish start to the season Pep Guardiola’s side have dominated the Premier League and with that title virtually in the bag will be able to focus on Europe.
They sealed a fourth successive quarter-final berth with a 4-0 aggregate win over Borussia Moenchengladbach and have not conceded a goal in the competition for 11 hours 35 minutes.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , , , , ,

champions league: Ruthless Bayern Munich complete job against Lazio to ease into Champions League last-eight | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


MUNICH: Holders Bayern Munich cruised through to the Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons after beating Lazio 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory.
Leading 4-1 from the first leg in Rome, Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Bayern from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, his 39th goal of the season in all competitions, to virtually end Lazio’s hopes.
The German champions took their foot off the gas before substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, having replaced Lewandowski, added the second goal in the 73rd minute. Marco Parolo headed a late consolation for Lazio.
Bayern joined fellow German side Borussia Dortmund in the last eight and Lazio’s exit means no Italian team will compete in the Champions League quarter-finals, with Juventus and Atalanta having also gone out at the last-16 stage.
“It was important for me that we won the game,” Bayern coach Hansi Flick said.

“Lazio defended well but I think the win was deserved. Our attack is so strong and we play a high-risk game. It’s important that we keep playing like this and defend from the front to put our opponents under pressure.”
Alexander Nuebel replaced the ill Manuel Neuer in goal for Bayern, but with Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi surprisingly leaving the club’s top scorer Ciro Immobile out, the stand-in keeper was rarely rested.
Although Lazio were facing a near impossible task – no side in European Cup history has progressed from a knockout tie after losing the first leg by three or more goals at home – Bayern named a strong starting side.

A clumsy challenge from Vedat Muriqi on Leon Goretzka gifted Bayern the penalty which Lewandowski converted, his fifth Champions League goal of the season, and the rest of match was a cruise for the Bundesliga leaders.
Lewandowski went within inches of his 40th of the season in the second half before being withdrawn and Choupo-Moting found the net two minutes after coming on, ensuring Bayern made it 19 games unbeaten in the Champions League.
Parolo did give Lazio something to take back to Italy in the 82nd minute when he headed home from Andreas Pereira’s free kick, but Bayern never looked in any danger of making a surprise exit.

“We did well, the boys were in the game then we conceded a goal from a penalty,” Inzaghi said. “We exit with honour after six matches unbeaten in the group.
“We were sorry for the first leg but I think we played a good match here.”



[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , , ,

Lewandowski landmark goal helps Bayern to 3-1 win at Werder | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


BREMEN (Germany): Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-1 victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday with striker Robert Lewandowski climbing to second place in the Bundesliga‘s all-time scorers list as the champions opened up a five-point lead at the top.
The 32-year-old Lewandowski, the 2020 FIFA World Player, twice hit the woodwork early in the second half before tapping in for to make it 3-0 and join Klaus Fischer on 268 Bundesliga goals, second on the all-time scorers list only to Gerd Mueller and his astonishing 365-goal record.
The Bavarians, who welcome Lazio for their Champions League Round of 16 second leg on Wednesday, were never troubled by the hosts, and Leon Goretzka headed them into the lead in the 22nd minute.
Thomas Mueller then delivered his 13th assist of the season in the 35th for Serge Gnabry to slot in.
Lewandowski, who has also played for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, was determined to join them on the score sheet after the break. But in the 54th and then 58th minute, he hit the woodwork, and twice more Werder keeper Jiri Pavlenka denied him with superb saves.
But a lucky bounce from a Kingsley Coman cross in the 67th allowed the Poland forward to tap in from close range and take his league tally this season to 32 goals, one step closer to Gerd Mueller’s league record of 40 goals in a season dating back to the 1971/72 campaign.
Lewandowski hit the post a third time in the 78th minute and Niclas Fuellkrug scored a late goal for the hosts as Bayern moved up to 58 points, with second-placed RB Leipzig, on 53, in action against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
VfL Wolfsburg climbed to third spot on 48 points with a 5-0 demolition of basement club Schalke 04.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , ,

Current Bayern team as good as Barca with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta: Klinsmann | Football News – Times of India

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


CHENNAI: The Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund rivalry has been one of the standout features of the Bundesliga over the last decade. While Bayern have been a footballing superpower for many decades now, the emergence of Dortmund in recent years has ensured the presence of a worthy challenger to the Bavarian giants’ overwhelming dominance.
This season, though, there has been no such challenge from Dortmund. Bayern have a 13-point advantage over Dortmund ahead of this weekend’s ‘Der Klassiker’ and are on course for a ninth successive Bundesliga title. Bayern is indisputably the best team in the world right now, having won the Champions League and Club World Cup among six trophies last year.
What makes them so good? Former Germany and Bayern Munich striker Jurgen Klinsmann, who has also coached the national team, believes that their consistency and drive to succeed make them stand apart.
“Over the last few years, Bayern have just been a role model for consistency. They have an extremely driven culture within the club as well as within the entire city. They always want titles. That is their goal every year. They won six titles in 2020, which is a bit out of normal. But their winning culture is exceptional. To keep that in place is very challenging,” Klinsmann said during a virtual interaction.
Bayern’s feat of six trophies in a calendar year has only been matched once previously – by Barcelona in 2009. Not surprisingly then, Klinsmann went on to say that the current Bayern team can be compared to the great Barcelona team of the late 2000s, when the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta were ruling the roost.
“You can compare Bayern to the great Barcelona team that had Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and (Carles) Puyol. They seem almost unbeatable right now. In every position now, they have two players of absolute quality. If you can leave (Kingsley) Coman or (Leroy) Sane on the bench, it’s insane,” the 56-year-old, who is currently in Los Angeles, said.
Dortmund, on the other hand, are going through another rebuilding phase with a promising group of young players. Klinsmann sympathized with Dortmund, who kept losing their best players to rival clubs in Europe.
“Dortmund have had mixed fortunes. Often, Dortmund have had to deal with their best players leaving the club at a specific moment in time when they seem to be on top. (Robert) Lewandowski was the biggest loss in recent years,” Klinsmann observed.

[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , ,

UEFA Champions League: Simone Inzaghi Rues Lazio Errors after Bayern Munich Demolition

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi was left frustrated at his side’s error-plagued Champions League performance after poor defending led to three of Bayern Munich’s goals in a commanding 4-1 victory for the German champions.

A slack back pass from Mateo Musacchio was pounced on for Robert Lewandowski’s opener, resulting in Inzaghi substituting the Argentine defender 31 minutes into the match.

Defender Patric was at fault for Bayern’s third goal, while Francesco Acerbi diverted a cross into his own net for their fourth early in the second half to hand Bayern a huge advantage ahead of the last-16 second leg in Munich on March 17.

“We knew the importance of the game and the value of the opponent, but we made it easy for them. We made three of their goals and that is the greatest disappointment,” Inzaghi told Mediaset.

“We contributed to their goals, it’s a bad night but we must go forward and it will be an important step in our development.”

The result extended the holders’ unbeaten Champions League run to 18 games and came as a relief after a two-match winless run in the league.

“Everyone fulfilled expectations today,” said Bayern coach Hansi Flick.

“We wanted to put them under pressure from the off, which we did well. We won the ball high up the pitch and created plenty of chances as a result. We’re very happy.”



[ad_2]

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Leave a comment , , , , ,