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Benfica’s
efforts are applauded by the home fans and rightly so. But Bayern are
the team heading to the semi-final, and that is also right, although
Martinez should have been sent off. The Germans are a formidable side
because they keep and move the ball so well but they are a little flakey
defensively. Ergo they are beatable. It would be interesting to see
them against Atletico Madrid in the semi-final. That would leave
Manchester City to face Real Madrid, the only remaining team that Manuel
Pellegrini’s side look capable of bettering over two legs.
Thomas Müller leads the Bayern post-match celebrations. Photograph: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images
90+1 min: Ribéry lifts the ball over Almeida’s
slide tackle but gets caught by the defender himself. Booking for
Almeida. Ribéry gets up and walks off to be replaced by Gotze.
89 min: A miss, an actual miss by Lewandowski!
And a very bad one, at that. He as sent running clear on goal and went
for a neat sidefooter into the far corner but totally fluffed it and
ended up just rolling the ball into the waiting keeper’s arms.
87 min: Costa, a constantly foraging menace down the left, goes to work again. But once he offloads to Muller Benfica win it back and resume their rather forlorn chase for the two goals they need.
85 min: Martinez chops down Talisca about six
yards outside the area. The rf decides not to issue the defender with a
second yellow card. Can Talisca exact retribution from the freekick
again? Very nearly! He curls a fine effort inches past the far post.
Bayern substitution: Lewandowski on, Muller off.
Reports in Germany are suggesting that the reason the Pole did not
start tonight is that he was involved in a minor car accident on Sunday.
82 min: Alonso - always him - clips a pass over the out-rushing Benfica defence. Muller takes it down and shapes to shoot from 12 yards, but Jardel rushes over to hoof the ball behind for a corner.
Justice
done! And with great panache, too! What a freekick by Talisco! He
curled the ball over the wall with power and precision, leaving Neuer
clutching air as the ball hurtled into the top corner. Game on? Probably
not, but Benfica are not going to go down without a fight.
The Bayern wall doesn’t do it’s job for the second time of the evening
as Benfica’s Talisca (not pictured) scores. Photograph: Rafael
Marchante/Reuters
Talisca celebrates his goal. Photograph: Rafael Marchante/Reuters
74 min: A long ball from the back catches out
Martinez, who allows Guedes to get on the wrong side of him and start
running towards the box. Martinez, in desperation, stretches out a leg
and takes him down at the end of the area. It seems a certain red card
... but the ref only shows a yellow! Benfica
fans and staff are outraged. But all they’ve got to show for it is a
freekick at the edge of the box, a little to the right. Justice not done
there. Refs should be allowed to give a penalty for that sort of
offence no matter where it occurred.
72 min: Muller collects a throughball and then
lays it back to Vidal, who sends a soft sidefooter towards Ederson from
18 yards. And the keeper nearly fumbles it into the net! Luckily for
him, the ball went just wide so he escaped with just conceding a corner.
70 min: An extravagant flick takes Costa past
Carcela, who responds by whacking the winger to the ground.
Understandable but not strictly part of the game. The ref feels obliged
to book him.
66 min: Renato Sanches has impressed tonight at the age of 18.
You can see why he’s so coveted. A powerful runner, impossible to knock
off the ball and clever and adroit in the way he uses it, he looks like
he’d fit in to nearly any midfield in the world.
Renato Sanches scampers away from the challenge of Thiago Alcantara. Photograph: Octavio Passos/Getty Images
64 min: Chance for Benfica
as Vidal clunks into Carcela about 20 yards from Bayern’s goal. The
Chilean immediately starts pleading with the ref not to book him. The
ref chooses leniency, sparing Vidal a suspension from the first leg of
the semi-final. To top it off, the freekick is wasted.
62 min: The ball breaks to Almeida about 28
yards from goal. What the hell, he has a shot. And Neuer takes no
chances, palming it over for a corner, which Bayern defend well.
61 min: Bayern split the Benfica
defence again. Costa elects to take his shot early from 20 yards. It
catches the keeper slightly by surprise and fizzes past him along the
ground ... but out off the post!
54 min:
Superb break by Bayern, who are in danger of running amok now. Costa
lets them off the hook this time by miscontrolling and allowing Ederson
to charge off his line and clasp the ball. But you get the feeling
Bayern will be back in the Benfica box real soon.
Benfica’s goalkeeper Ederson, left, gets the better of Bayern’s Douglas Costa. Photograph: Armando Franca/AP
Nothing fancy about that goal. Alonso floats a corner way over to the far post. Benfica
defenders run away from it, leaving Martinez to leap high and nut the
ball back across goal. Muller sticks out a leg and pokes it into the net
from close range. Game over.
Thomas Müller, 2nd right, sticks out a leg to score Bayern’s second goal. Photograph: Armando Franca/AP
Muller celebrates his goal. Photograph: Rafael Marchante/Reuters
51 min: Rentao Sanches barges Ribéry aside and
tries to play a one-two at the edge of the Bayern box. But Kimmich reads
his intention and puts paid to his meddling. Moments later Bayern are
back down the other end, winning a corner.
49 min: Wicked cross with the outside of his
boot by Costa. Jardel makes a well-timed headed intervention to stop
Muller connecting with it in front of goal.
47 min: A long clearance from back drops behind
Bayern’s last defender, and suddenly Jimenez looks like he might sprint
on to it. But Neuer, the sweeper-keeper supreme, strides forth from his
box and snuffs out the danger.
46 min: Reanto Sanches tips the ball to Pizzi to
set the second half in motion Benfica need to score two ore goals
without conceding. It doesn’t look likely but hey, Leicester are top of
the Premier League so who knows what could happen? “As a City fan, I
actually would love to be drawn against Bayern in the semi-final,”
confesses Matt Collins. “The Guardiola-Pellegrini narrative would make
for great entertainment. Better than that, Pep clearly has the same
semis-but-no-further block that Jose had at Real Madrid. Plus an
unlikely finalist is long overdue.” It’s not very logical, nor
particularly accurate (Pep’s semi-final-and-no-further block has brought
him two Champions League titles), but at least it’s not defeatist thinking.
For
a while Benfica looked like pulling off mission improbable, thanks to a
splendid counter-attacking goal and some rickety Bayern defending. But
ultimately class looks like telling. Or do Benfica have a real shock up their sleeves?
43 min: Vidal’s goal has fallen like an anvil on
Benfica’s belief. Bayern are coasting now. They’re looking for a second
goal to make sure. Vidal is not too far from getting one, chesting down
a pass over the top from Alonso and then smashing a half-volley just
over from 18 yards.
OK,
Bayern were dangerous there! A cute disguised pass down the right by
Costa found Lahm, who fired the ball across the face of goal. Ederson
dived at it superman style and punched it one-handed to the edge of the
area. Vidal arrived and lashed a well-controlled half-volley with his
left foot and into the unguarded goal! A lovely strike that should
settle this tie. There’ll certainly be no extra-time, anyway.
Arturo Vidal fires home Bayern’s equaliser. Photograph: Miguel A. Lopes/EPA
37 min: This has been a tremendous display by Benfica
so far. They’re played with huge commitment and poise and they look the
more dangerous team going forward, even if they get to go forward a lot
less frequently than Bayern.
35 min: Another chance for Bayern, again
courtesy of a crossfield ball. Lahm is the recipient this time but his
first touch is not deft enough, allowing Ederson to rush off his line
and snaffle the ball.
33 min: Bayern steady themselves and get back on
the front foot again. Ribéry hoiks a cross in from the left. Vidal,
arriving at speed from deep, failed to trouble the keeper with a header.
At what point can we start describing the omission of Robert
Lewandowski as unacceptable smart-arsery?
30 min: It should have been 2-0! Terrible
defending by Bayern as two players failed to intercept a cut-back from
Salvio. That allows Jimenez to collect it eight yards out but he rushes
his shot as more defenders converge on him and winds up scuffing his
shot. Comfortable save by Neuer.
28 min: Rui Vitoria’s masterplan is working so
far, then. Despite being deprived of several first-choice players, and
also of the ball for most of the match, Benfica
have absorbed all the pressure Bayern could put on them and then gave
the Germans a lesson in finishing. We’re level on aggregate and there’s
no telling what’ll happen now!
A
beautiful counter-attacking goal, totally against the run of play! A
superb curling cross from the left by Eliseu is met by Jimenez, who
jumped between two defenders and left Neuer clawing at thin air as he
headed into the net from 12 yards!
Raul Jimenez heads Benfica into the lead. Photograph: Rafael Marchante/Reuters
Then celebrates his fine header. Photograph: Rafael Marchante/Reuters
22 min: I don’t have stats to hand, but a rough estimate is that Bayern have had a million touches so far, and Benfica
five. The hosts are having to run and concentrate hard not to succumb
to the monotonous pressure. Vidal is the latest to threaten, this time
with a header from another dinked pass by Thiago. It’s another
straightforward save for Ederson, though. For all their dominance,
Bayern have not yet alarmed the keeper.
19 min: Alonso sweeps a ball out wide right.
Lahm collects it and fires in a low cross, It’s slightly behind Muller
but he still manages to make (almost) like the Isley Borthers and twist
and shoot. But he’s under pressure from two Portuguese defenders,
something the Isley Brothers never had to put up with it, and the ball
trickles wide.
17 min: Costa takes down another long crossfield ball, then darts towards the Benfica
box. He threads a nice ball between two defenders and into the path of
Lahm, who had raided from deep. Lahm has a clear sight of goal! But he
decides to pass, and fails to pick out Muller in the middle. A great
chance is wasted.
15 min: Bayern still can’t find a way through the centre of Benfica.
They are finding space way out wide, though, but have not been able to
make productive use of it yet. Alaba has just skittered down the left
and pinged in a low cross that the keeper gathered with no ado.
13 min: Bayern have taken ownership of the ball now, leaving Benfica to chase after them like serfs. But these serfs are organised, their resistance strong. No openings for Bayern to exploit yet.
10 min: Thaigo makes a nice jinking run in-field
from the left and then clips a searching pass forward towards Vidal.
Lindelof strains his neck and heads the ball away. Good thing that,
otherwise Would have had a free run at goal from 25 yards.
8 min: Alonso wafts over a long corner. Martinez
gets his head to it but not with sufficient power to trouble the
keeper, who easily stops the shot from 14 yards.
6 min: Jimenez does well to hold off a defender
and take down a long punt from the back. He then knocks the ball wide,
spins and darts forward in anticipation of a return pass. But Alaba wins
it back for Bayern. It’s pretty even possession-wise so far.
4 min: Alonso spanks a long diagonal ball from
deep towards Costa. But he overhits it and the ball runs out of play, to
the audible glee of the locals.
3 min:
Eliseu takes the freekick, hammering it low to the side of the wall. It
was heading straight for Neueur until Vidal diverted it behind for a
corner.
Eliseu gets the ball past the Bayern wall. Photograph: Paul Hanna/Reuters
2 min: Now this is promising for Benfica:
Kimmich has conceded a freekick just outside the D of Bayern’s box. The
young defender jumped with Jimenez and caught him in the must with a
flailing arm. Not deliberate, but not legal.
Right on cue, the players amble out on the pitch. It’s a bright
evening in Lisbon, and the Stadium of Light sounds superb, with home
fans belting out ominous sounding chants. They could be saying “welcome
dear German friends” for all I know, but it sounds brilliantly threatening.
The Benfica
eagle swoops across the pitch. Whereas ravens herald the arrival of
death and pestilence or something, this bird merely means the players
are about to enter the arena, which is a good thing, all told.
The Benfica eagle before it went a-swooping. Photograph: Paul Hanna/Reuters
In addition to being shorn of their top scorer, Jonas, Benfica
are also without their first-choice keeper, Julio Cesar, the excellent
midfielder Nicolas Gaitan, and the injured Fulham legend Kostas
Mitroglou.
Two names conspicuous by their absence from the Bayern line-up:
Benatia, who remained in Germany because he (a) is injured or (b) pithed
up at Munich airport without his passport (delete depending on whether
you believe the player or German newspapers); and Lewandowski, whom
Guardiola has decided to leave on the bench. That’s wealth, folks.
Hello and thanks for coming. Let’s see what we can do here. Previously in this Champions League
quarter-final Bayern Munich spluttered to a 1-0 home win and Professor
Pep Guardiola swotted away suggestions that his advanced football beings
had looked rather ordinary by claiming that Benfica have the best
defence in Europe. It was tough to square that with the knowledge that
Benfica had lost 2-1 in Galatasaray earlier in the competition, and
drawn 2-2 at Astana of Kazakhstan, but that was before the 21-year-old
Swede Victor Linderof was introduced to Benfica’s defence and, besides,
you shouldn’t expect to understand things Guardiola says because he
talks from a higher plane. As if dealing with a superior mind is not hard enough,
Benfica are tonight also making their latest attempt to banish a
supernatural force, namely the curse of Bela Guttman. That, as you know,
was a heroic Up Yours delivered by the Hungarian manager before walking
out on his employers in protest at being denied a wage rise following
victory in the 1962 European Cup final. Benfica have failed to win a
continental title since then, losing no less than eight finals. And in
what Guttman might consider as an equally delicious pay-off, the
financial system is also now aligned against Benfica,
which helps explain why this is their first quarter-final in Europe’s
top competition since 2012 and they have not made it to the last four
since 1990, when typing abuse at passers-by online was the stuff of
science fiction and Pluto was a planet. Bayern, by contrast, are in
their fourth Champions League quarter-final in a row. But they have yet
to win the competition under their current manager, which does not quite
bring us into The Curse of Guardiola territory but is a dark mark
against the Catalan, all the same. Elimination tonight would be
unbearable for him, particularly with Manuel Pellegrini swilling
metaphorical semi-final cocktails with Manchester City. Almost
everything is in Guardiola’s favour tonight, especially as Benfica are
deprived of their top scorer, with Jonas suspended. But Benfica’s
manager, Rui Vitoria, who is not the sort to make excuses. He has
already proven his ability to adapt to adversity by thrusting Renato
Sanches into the fray earlier this season (the 18-year-old has since
established himself as one of the brightest young midfielder in Europe)
and shrugging off an injury to goalkeeper Julio Cesar by giving a debut
to Ederson in the quarter-final win over Zenit St Petersburg. Vitoria
has said his team will play on the counter-attack here, as if they have a
choice. It’s going to be fun seeing what happens.
Benfica v Bayern Munich: Champions League quarter-final
Reviewed by Unknown
on
16:39:00
Rating: 5
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