After the first match in the tie, hopes of playing the final in Berlin for Bayern Munich already looked to be dead and buried due to some wonderful goals from Lionel Messi and Neymar, plus the fact that Barcelona looked strong in the home game, and proved that by coming out of it 3-0 winners against their old manager. However, even those who thought that it was over knew that Bayern Munich would not go down without a good fight. And what a fight it was...
It didn't take Barcelona long to settle into this game either. The first chance fell to Ivan Rakitic in the first five minutes and he made a good run into the right side of the box which took him away from three Bayern defenders. He tried to make it difficult for the keeper by cutting the ball across to the bottom left corner, but Manuel Neuer got down well to palm the ball away. It wasn't long before Bayern turned it all on its head though. Minutes after the Rakitic chance, Bayern won a corner that proved to be costly. The ball is swung in and Medhi Benatia was unmarked and got up well to knock his header cleanly into the back of the net at the near post, which Barcelona had chosen not to cover.
It didn't take Barcelona long to settle into this game either. The first chance fell to Ivan Rakitic in the first five minutes and he made a good run into the right side of the box which took him away from three Bayern defenders. He tried to make it difficult for the keeper by cutting the ball across to the bottom left corner, but Manuel Neuer got down well to palm the ball away. It wasn't long before Bayern turned it all on its head though. Minutes after the Rakitic chance, Bayern won a corner that proved to be costly. The ball is swung in and Medhi Benatia was unmarked and got up well to knock his header cleanly into the back of the net at the near post, which Barcelona had chosen not to cover.
This seemed to be the turning point of Bayern's confidence in the game. Their defending became stronger and they snuffed out any attempts that Barcelona created in the early moments of the game. Bastian Schweinsteiger took on a long range shot in the hopes of catching Marc-Andre ter Stegen out as he was off his line but it went high and wide of the target. However, even chances like this could prove to be big against a team like Barcelona.
This proved to be true as only a minute after this, Barcelona were up at the other end and scoring the crucial away goal. Messi played a nice through ball up field to Luis Suarez from midfield. He kept running and unselfishly squared the ball across to Neymar when he got into box and Neuer began closing him down. This left Neymar with an empty net to turn the ball into and add another blow to the Bayern team.
This didn't stop Bayern from playing the way they had planned though. Their build up play remained strong and was quick as they pushed forward to try and regain the lead they had earned so early on. Philipp Lahm put in a good cross from outside the box that looped past the Barcelona defence and was met well by Thomas Muller. His looping header was directed towards the top left corner but ter Stegen got across well to palm the ball away. Not long after, Muller are a run into the box after taking on a number of Barcelona defenders and winning the ball. Just outside the box, he slipped the ball into Robert Lewandowski who pokes the ball towards the centre of the goal where ter Stegen was waiting to save the ball.
Once again, Barcelona weren't ready to just sit around while their defence did all the work. Neymar was allowed a lot of space down the left and he darted into the box to square the box across to Messi, who was surrounded by three Bayern defenders, but he still managed to direct his shot on target, and Neuer saved it comfortably. Neymar did add another goal to his tally moments after this chance. Barcelona cleared from a defensive position and Messi got up well to flick a header behind him to find Suarez, who wasn't challenged as he charged towards the Bayern penalty area. Once again, he unselfishly crossed the ball across to Neymar who chested the ball down and struck the ball low at Neuer's near post. The keeper did get his fingertips to the ball but not enough to stop the goal. Bayern were behind and had an even bigger mountain to climb due to the away goals.
It was Lewandowski that got the final chance of the half though and he took the shot sweetly on the half volley and put a lot of pace behind the shot which caused ter Stegen some problems. The goalkeeper did get his hand to the shot and managed to take a lot of the pace off the shot even though he was diving in the opposite direction. He didn't stop the shot though, and he did well to get up and get back to claw the ball off the goal line to deny him. That was the last chance Bayern had for a while in the game as Barcelona pressed him in the second half and wouldn't allow them to play out like they wanted to.
Towards the hour mark, Bayern got back into their rhythm and began to prove a bit too much to handle for the Barcelona defence. From a Bayern throw in, Pedro wasn't bleeding to clear the ball cleanly, meaning the ball deflected into the path of Juan Bernat. He pushed the ball forwards slightly to create a better angle for himself, but ended up aiming it just wide of the post. This only seemed to raise their confidence.
On the hour mark, Lewandowski finally got what he had been looking for throughout the match. Xabi Alonso did well to win the ball back around the halfway line, before Lewandowski used his skill to work his way past Javier Mascherano after shifting the ball between his feet and wrong footed the keeper as he fired the ball into the net at the far post. Moments after, Alonso did well once again, this time he managed to lay the ball off to Muller who directed his shot just wide of the target.
Muller was another player that had been chasing a goal in the tie and he again got what his play deserved. He had tried to be unselfish by slipping in Lewandowski, but the pass was deflected when the defender stuck out a leg. The ball kindly deflected back into the path of Muller who took on the shot first time and he powered the ball towards goal. Ter Stegen looked to have it covered but it took a slight deflection as it went through the legs of Mascherano which took it just out of the reach of ter Stegen.
Bayern still had a long way to go before they could be in the final and they looked up for the challenge. Messi lost the ball which gifted Lewandowski with another chance at goal. He shifted the ball onto his other foot, but Gerard Pique was in the right place to deflect the ball past the post. And then, they lost their momentum. Possibly, due to the fast pace in which they started the game, they just couldn't keep it going for the whole 90 minutes to give them a chance of progressing to the final.
Barcelona finished the chances of the game deep into added time when Neymar found himself in a one on one situation with the goalkeeper. On his hat trick, the Brazilian unselfishly looked across goal to find Messi making a run to the far post. There was too much pace on the ball though, and the chance came to nothing.
This means that it will be Barcelona playing the final in Berlin on the 6th of June after already dumping out the English champions, the French champions and the German champions. This either leaves them with the Italian champions or the current holders as their final competition. This game, however, was one that will leave Pep Guardiola wondering how he failed to get his team up and running in the first tie as that proved to be very costly in the semi final.
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