Barca fail to make final

Strikes from Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller and an own goal from Gerard Pique gave Bayern Munich a resounding 3-0 win over Barcelona.

The Blaugrana looked to overturn a 4-0 deficit from the first leg, but they had to do so without Lionel Messi – who was only fit enough for the bench. Cesc Fabregas, Pedro and David Villa took their place in the forward line, whilst Alex Song came in for the injured Sergio Busquets. The German side meanwhile, welcomed back Mario Mandzukic after last week’s suspension.

After a nervy start to the game, it was the away side who perhaps had the best of the opening exchanges. Just as they did in the first match, the Bundesliga side were pressing Tito Vilanova’s side high up the pitch, and causing the hosts to make early errors.

And it nearly cost them an away goal inside the first 15 minutes. A deep run from Robben caught the Barca backline unaware, but luckily Gerard Pique was there to avert any danger before the Dutch winger had a chance to shoot at goal.

Slowly though, the home team started to impose themselves on the match, Xavi and Andres Iniesta were getting on the ball, and it was the former who almost opened the scoring after half an hour. A cross from the right found the veteran midfielder, but he could only fire over from close range.

All their possession however, wasn’t ceding any results, and Barca went into the break level.

After the interval, that bluntness up top came back to haunt the Camp Nou club, as with just four minutes of the half gone, Robben cut inside Adriano and curled one past Victor Valdes for an away goal.

The game went decidedly flat after that, but things got even worse late on as Pique inadvertently shanked the ball into his own net after a Franck Ribery cross to double the Bundesliga side’s lead.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, on 76 minutes Muller headed in at the far post from another Ribery cross to take the aggregate score to 7-0, and put Bayern Munich on a plane to Wembley for the Champions League final on May 25.

Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich

Scorers: Robben 49 (BM), Pique OG 72 (BM), Muller 76 (BM)

Barcelona: Valdés; Alves, Piqué, Bartra (Montoya 87), Adriano; Xavi (Sanchez 55), Song, Iniesta (Thiago 65); Cesc, Pedro, Villa

Bayern Munich: Neuer; Lahm (Rafinha 77), Boateng, van Buyten, Alaba; Martínez (Tymoshchuk 75), Schweinsteiger (Luis Gustavo 67);  Robben, Müller, Ribéry; Mandzukic

Tags Bayern Munich
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