Neymar leads Barcelona to Champions League final despite Bayern victory
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Version 0 of 1. On a muggy, absorbing, oddly processional night Barcelona reached their eighth European Cup final with their first win in Munich, cruising past the champions of Germany without ever really having to thrum up through the gears. A narrow win for Bayern Munich on the night – and a comfortable Barcelona victory overall – was just reward for Luis Enrique’s team, who were again wonderfully supple and incisive in attack when it mattered. As it stands, Barcelona are now a triple-grab from a late-breaking treble, with three victories required from their last four matches to secure the Copa Del Rey, La Liga and Champions League. A first defeat since February will do little to still their momentum. This tie was already dead, buried and ceremonially despatched with half an hour gone. Luis Suárez provided the thrust, Lionel Messi the vision and Neymar the cutting edge, the Brazilian scoring twice in the opening half hour. If Bayern also attacked with energy they were equally generous in defence, starting with the same high-risk, forward-thrusting three-man backline Pep Guardiola had abandoned after 15 minutes of the first leg. Related: Bayern’s heads and legs missing as they tumble out of Champions League In the buildup to this game Guardiola had committed himself fully to the final year of his contract. Welcome as this is, Bayern will perhaps hope their manager spends part of the summer pondering his defensive repertoire for an occasion such as this, where the refusal to crouch behind the guard a little can become a point of stubborn principle. “You can only beat Barcelona when you take the ball away from them. When they have the ball they are too strong,” Guardiola insisted afterwards. Which will be news to Jupp Heynckes, whose Bayern beat Barça 4-0 here two years ago while staying compact and taking only 37% of the possession. At the very least Guardiola might hope to find a trio of central defenders mobile and assured enough to adapt to a demanding system. On this occasion a little boldness was understandable. The morning headline on the back page of Abendzeitung had read “Wanted: the eighth football miracle”, above a list that summoned up, among others, West Germany’s Miracle of Bern at the 1954 World Cup. Reversing a 3-0 deficit was always daunting, made all the more so by the dulling of Bayern’s edge in recent weeks. Before kick-off Bayern had not scored in three games, while Barça had not conceded at all since 15 April. For all that, the Allianz Arena was as boisterous as ever, a wave of noise breaking around its cantilevered sides as Bayern pressed aggressively at the start. Guardiola had warned against attempting to “do everything” in the first quarter of the game but talk of caution turned out to be an act of misdirection as Bayern again pressed man for man and defended with that slightly wild high line. Related: Bayern Munich 3-2 Barcelona: Champions League semi-final – as it happened Barça were unchanged, with familiar results, too, as with six minutes gone Ivan Rakitic sprinted through a flat defence and shot across Manuel Neuer, who palmed away the ball. This was always likely to be a case of risk and reward for Bayern, and for a moment there was a giddy sense of hope as from Barça’s corner the home team broke the length of the field, won a corner and took the lead in the seventh minute. Medhi Benatia was unmarked at his far-post header found the corner. Game on! Perhaps. Despite the lead Bayern’s defence still looked on the verge of being overrun, which it duly was eight minutes later. This time it was Suárez bursting through a knot of static Bayern defenders after a sublime pass from Messi. The ball was squared to Neymar, who tapped it into the net. With 15 minutes gone Bayern needed five and that was effectively that. They kept making chances but that high-pressing backline still looked as brittle as a four-day old pretzel. With 29 minutes gone it was 2-1, the same combination of Suárez and Neymar creating a goal of playground simplicity. A single lofted pass was all it took to send Suárez sprinting in on goal again. His cross was perfectly weighted for Neymar to chest down, with time to let the ball bounce before caressing it lovingly into the near corner. On the touchline Guardiola looked a little baffled by this turn of events. But rarely can a team have come to this stadium and been required to do so little in order to score twice. As Messi left the field at half-time, Bayern’s manager sportingly shook his hand. There was no real need. Bayern had already extended enough courtesy to this stellar attack. With the second half in danger of fizzling out Bayern equalised again on the night, this time via a lovely finish by Robert Lewandowski just before the hour. With Barca camped in their own half the home team took the lead, Thomas Müller finding the corner. For all Bayern’s gameness there was a hollowness to their second-half dominance and, as Müller was taken off, even a note of dissent in the crowd. “I hope Barcelona win their fifth Champions League, that would be great,” Guardiola said. They will certainly take some stopping. |