The new approach of Los Blancos

Real Madrid have started their new pre-season with their freshly instituted coach Carlo Ancelotti, who replaced the controversial José Mourinho, after having moved from Paris Saint-Germain to his new footballing preference. The first training sessions have been completed and many of the new summer signings, amongst them the fresh young talent Isco from FC Málaga, show some promising skills.

Also very interesting is the fact that former Real Madrid legend and World Player of the Year, Zinédine Zidane, has a new role at the club as assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti, after having fulfilled all the formal requirements for the position over the last couple of years, starting with involvement in the coaching of the Real Madrid Castilla, the youngster team of the club.

Due to this involvement, he already got to know some of the young players that have moved up to the first team in the meantime. Álvaro Morata and Jesé Rodriguez showed some very promising and impressive football. Morata, who played at the U21 Euro 2013 along with the newly signed Isco and Asier Illaramendi from Real Sociedad, had a tremendous tournament and helped Spain to claim yet another Euro title. Isco was signed for € 30 million, while Asier Illaramendi was worth € 38 million to Real Madrid president  Florentino Pérez, making him the most expensive Spanish signing in the club’s history.

Another notable figure in the U21 Euro squad of Spain is Daniel Carvajal, who was brought back to Real Madrid after having played for the German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a club infamously known for its record defeat by Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League.

Many of Ancelotti’s former players describe him as a coach that puts an emphasis on the psychological relationship between him and the players. After the differences between former coach José Mourinho, who more or less split the team in half with some of the players, most notably Iker Casillas and Pepe, having rather strong differences in opinion compared to Mourinho, and the rest of the squad being faithful as a dog to the Portuguese superstar, who moved back to his old club Chelsea after the 2012/2013 season with Real Madrid had come to an end. In the end, one might come to the conclusion that Ancelotti has exactly the right kind of attitude and style of coaching that the players, especially the likes of Casillas and Pepe, need at this point in time in order to bring back harmony and team oriented thinking amongst the Real Madrid players.

The new 2013/2014 season all over Europe will be a very interesting one indeed – after all, the majority of the big clubs in Europe have replaced their head coaches and as always, new stars rise and old ones fall. In Barcelona for example, the interplay between Messi and the new Brazilian star Neymar will be very interesting for a lot of football fans. In Germany, former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola took over at FC Bayern München, the current triple title holders in Europe. He brought in the young Barcelona player Thiago Alcántara, who will compete with the numerous other midfield players at Bayern. This will create a similar situation like in Madrid, where a large number of players will compete for the scarce positions in midfield.

In England, David Moyes took over as head coach after the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement at the end of last season. However, a couple of issues remain with Manchester United, as Wayne Rooney allegedly wants to leave the club and potential transfers that were heated up by the media, like the one of Thiago Alcántara turned out fruitless. Rival club Manchester City also introduced a new coach, the Argentine Manuel Pellegrini, who has also coached Real Madrid in the past. And, as mentioned before, José Mourinho took back over at Chelsea.

Still, it will not be an easy first season for Ancelotti and Zidane, as the Real Madrid board and fans anxiously expect the tenth UEFA Champions League title, next to the league title of course. We wish him all the best and may the best team win 😉

The returning wrath against FC Barcelona while uncovering the largest betting scandal in football history…

Europol announced today that they uncovered a football fixing scandal run from Singapore, which involves about 680 suspicious matches all over the world. According to the European police, even matches in the UEFA Champions League, World Cup qualifying matches, as well as matches for the European championship are allegedly involved. It is a very sad day in the world of football.

Football, also known as soccer in some areas of the world, is the most popular sport on the planet. Billions of dollars are involved, not only when it comes to huge player salaries of superstars in the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

When I first heard of these news today, I immediately remembered the UEFA Champions League matches involving one team: FC Barcelona. Now, before you expect me to remain unbiased in this article, let me inform you that this will not be possible for me, not only because I am a fan of FC Barcelona’s largest rival – Real Madrid, but also because I cannot stand the fact that nothing happened in the last couple of years, even though not only Real Madrid fans were crying out for some form of justice when players of one team are treated unfairly in a match.

So, I will now let my anger out in the form of this article, looking at numerous matches involving one of the largest football clubs in the world – and also one of the most successful ones, well at least so we thougth…

Apart from the political issues involved when taking a look at the history of Spain, there have always been tensions between Catalans and the rest of Spain. Since I am not of Spanish descent, I never had any reason not to like FC Barcelona. Success is not a reason for me to hate a rival football club. But a couple of years ago, that changed whenever Real Madrid was treated unfairly by a referee, in my eyes at least, when playing FC Barcelona. Let’s take a look at the individual incidents involving very questionable referee decisions in the UEFA Champions League, as well as the Spanish La Liga and Copa Del Rey, when Barcelona were facing Real Madrid.

1. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – AC Milan (26.04.2006) semi-final
AC Milan lost the first leg at home to Barcelona by 0:1. The return leg in the Camp Nou took place on 26.04.2006. Interestingly, Andriy Shevchenko scored a goal that was disallowed by German referee Markus Merk because he supposedly saw a foul by Shevchenko on Barcelona defender Carles Puyol. The match ended 0:0 with Barcelona progressing to the final, where they beat FC Arsenal by 2:1. I have added the link to a video on YouTube, where you can judge yourself:

2. UEFA Champions League: FC Chelsea – FC Barcelona (06.05.2009) semi-final
The first leg in Barcelona ended 0:0. The return leg in London was to be a very difficult match for FC Barcelona and this can well be the match that was announced by EUROPOL today. The referee, Tom Henning Övrebö, denied the Chelsea team six potential penalties, of which not a single one was given! The match ended 1:1, with Barcelona progressing on away goals. Again, Barcelona won the Champions League that season by beating Manchester United in the final. Check out these six chances in the video below:

3. UEFA Champions League: FC København – FC Barcelona (02.11.2010) group stage matchday 4
This time it was “only” a group stage match, when at ten minutes into the match FC Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes storms out of his goal and does a Kung-Fu-like kick to stop FC København striker Dame N’Doye. This is one of the most dangerous and most brutal fouls I have ever seen in football and should easily have been fined with a red card for Victor Valdes. But referee Pavel Cristian Balaj did not even show him a yellow card. Barcelona ended up winning the group, FC København coming in second and receiving the disadvantage of having to face a group winner team in the round of 16. The video of the foul:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81170758/

4. Primera División: Real Madrid – FC Barcelona (16.04.2011) match day 32
In this clásico, striker Lionel Messi shot the ball into the Real Madrid crowd at the Santiago Bernabéu and did not receive the yellow card, as is custom when provoking the fans. Though this did not influence the outcome of the match, as this would have been Messi’s first booking in the match, it is a clear violation of FIFA regulations. Looks like he received some special treatment.

5. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – Inter Milan (28.04.2010) semi-final
Again, Barcelona in a Champions League return leg at the semi-final stage. Inter Milan player Thiago Motta, who played for Barcelona before he transferred to Inter, was shown a red card for a controversial tackle on Sergio Busquets, who built up a reputation for diving and acting. Barcelona lost the first leg 3:1 and had to win the return leg in order to progress to the final, but even though Inter were reduced to ten men with only 28 minutes played, Barcelona could not take advantage. Justice remained. Make up your own mind, whether it was a tackle worthy of a straight red card:

6. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – FC Arsenal (08.03.2011) round of 16
And once again the UEFA Champions League, this time Barcelona lost the first leg in London against Arsenal by 2:1. The return leg in the Camp Nou was won by Barcelona with 3:1. Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie received a second yellow card because he took a shot at goal after the referee Massimo Busacca blew his whistle due to offside. Imagine the noise that the crowd of over 90.000 people make in the Camp Nou and keep in mind that Van Persie kicked the ball about 1 second after the referee blew his whistle. Check out the incident and Van Persie’s view on the decision:

7. UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid – FC Barcelona (27.04.2011) semi-final
And yet another semi-final which Barcelona won under some very controversial circumstances. In the first leg of the semi-final Champions League clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid defender Pepe received a red card for a supposedly brutal tackle on Dani Alves. Admitting that it may have been dangerous play, it is quite clear that Pepe played the ball during the tackle and never touched Dani Alves. Again, the Barcelona player acted and made German referee Wolfgang Stark, who has been a controversy ever since, fell for the acting of Dani Alves. Now compare this tackle to the one from Victor Valdes and tell me that everything is correct…

8. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – Real Madrid (03.05.2011) semi-final
The return leg of this tie continued just as controversial as the first leg did, which Real Madrid lost 0:2. The fact that defender Pepe was sent off due to the controversial tackle on Alves, which is mentioned above, Real Madrid found themselves in a very difficult starting position in the return leg at the Camp Nou. But things started quite well – at least until referee Frank de Bleeckere, who was already mentioned earlier in this article, disallowed a goal by Gonzalo Higuaín, which should have counted, as Cristiano Ronaldo did not foul Mascherano in my opinion. I think most people would concur:

All in all, I really hope that Europol will uncover at least some of these incidents and show that FC Barcelona did not win all the trophies in a fair way. I also want to point out that I think Barcelona is a great team and plays very impressive football. This is what makes it even more sad in my opinion, because FC Barcelona does not need such controversial referee decisions – they are good enough as is. But nevertheless, such unfair referee decisions need to be punished and set right.
In my opinion, Barcelona should lose the titles they won due to unfair referee decisions, if Europol manages to proof that the concerned games have been manipulated due to betting scandals or whatever reason.

Football is a great sport and I think all of us fans want it to be clean and that the better team wins in the end – without unfair help from the referee. This NEEDS to STOP.

UEFA Champions League final review: FC Bayern München – FC Chelsea

What a final. Even if you’re not a fan of the two clubs, like me, this final was breathtaking and full of suspense to the very last minute! Since Bayern defeated my one true love, Real Madrid, I had no favorite team to support for the remaining Champions League match. Nevertheless, I became a big admirer of FC Chelsea and especially, Roberto Di Matteo. This coach took over after André Villas-Boas had been sacked on March 4th, after he had led Chelsea into a bit of a crisis and did not manage to create a harmonious relationship with some of the older players at Chelsea. So Di Matteo had quite a bit of work to do and clean up the mess that Villas-Boas left behind.

One could immediately notice the change – the Italian put his faith into the likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and John Terry – the “old” cavalry. Even though Di Matteo did not manage to get Chelsea a Champions League qualification place in the league table after finishing the Barclay’s Premier League in 6th place, he kept on working hard and managed to get the team into two finals. In the final of the FA Cup, Chelsea managed to beat FC Liverpool 2:1 and won their first trophy this season. Also, they beat FC Barcelona in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League with some of the best defending I have ever seen.

Bayern also had their problems in the domestic competitions. Defending champions Borussia Dortmund simply outclassed the Lederhosenträger in every possible way. Dortmund managed to defend their league title from last season and also beat Bayern in the DFB Pokal final by 5:2. Dortmund and Bayern were on the same pitch five times this season, but Dortmund won every single match. Bayern has never been this outclassed by a fellow German side ever.

All in all, it was difficult to call up a winner beforehand. Still, Bayern managed to get into the final as favorites, probably because they have the slightly better squad. And of course, because they play at home, in the gorgeous Allianz Arena. By defeating Real Madrid, Bayern became the first football team ever to play a UEFA Champions League final at home.

So, let’s get to the match itself. Keep in mind that numerous players on both sides missed this final due to suspensions from previous matches. Badstuber, Alaba and Luiz Gustavo were to be replaced in the Bayern defense. Chelsea had to make without Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles.

The Germans dominated the game from kickoff. Numerous chances by the likes of Schweinsteiger, Kroos and Robben characterized the first ten minutes of the match. Pressure from Bayern continued throughout the first half and only Kalou’s shot in the 37th minute tested Manuel Neuer. Still, the Bayern stars were unable to defeat Chelsea’s defenses.

The second half continued with the same high-pace game from Bayern and Chelsea defending with great tactics. They did not even try to stop the Bayern players in midfield, all of the Blues were in- or outside of the 18 yard box.

It was in the last ten minutes of normal time, it all looked to be decided. With a great cross by Kroos, Müller headed the ball towards goal. The piece of leather then hit the underside of the crossbar and went in. 1:0 for Bayern in the 83rd minute! It all seemed to be over, since Chelsea never really looked like they were going to score. But then something happened: football happened.

In the last minutes of normal play, Chelsea managed to get a corner kick, after pushing towards Manuel Neuer’s goal. They were definitely in a hurry now. Mata took the corner kick and found the strong and powerful head of no other than Didier Drogba, who headed the goal into the net in similar fashion of Müller. 1:1 with 88 minutes played! It then all went down to extra time, which pretty much consisted of the same tactics as the entire match: Bayern pressed, Chelsea defended. With one huge exception.

In the 95th minute, Drogba of all people fouled Ribery in the penalty box. Dutchman Arjen Robben, also a former Chelsea player under José Mourinho’s time, was unable to beat Petr Cech. The Bayern fans were furious, as this was not the first time the Dutchman missed a decisive penalty kick. In the league match against Borussia Dortmund, Bayern had the chance to still get within touching distance of the Schale (Bundesliga trophy) if Arjen Robben had delivered. It seems like he does lose his nerves when it comes to big penalty kicks. Still, I don’t think many Bayern stars would have traded places with him.

So it remained 1:1 and it all came down to a penalty shoot-out. Captain Philipp Lahm was the first to try out his luck against Petr Cech. He delivered, but only just, as Cech had his hands on the ball. Mata on the other hand, did not have that much luck, as Neuer saved his shot in impressive style. Mario Gomez, who was not having a great game, did great with his penalty kick. It was now 2:0 in the shoot-out. Chelsea had to score now, or it would have been very unlikely for them to still turn it around. And fortunately for them, David Luiz scored with a powerful shot into the top right corner of the net.

It was Manuel Neuer himself who took the next Bayern penalty. Keeper versus keeper, we don’t get to see that every day. Cech guessed the right way, but Neuer’s flat shot into the very left corner of the goal was pretty much unstoppable. Bayern seemed to be so close to the trophy. It was Frank Lampard up next and he smashed the ball into the top middle of the goal, leaving Neuer with no chance.

The next penalty was decisive. Ivica Olic stood up for Bayern and failed against Cech. It was now 3:2 for Bayern. And Ashley Cole converted his penalty shortly after to make it a mind-blowing 3:3.

It was now all down to playmaker Bastian Schweinsteiger. Unfortunately for him and Bayern, he hammered the ball against the right post of the goal, Cech might have had his hands on it. And now, the man that saved Chelsea’s dreams minutes before it was all over, stepped up. Cool as if it was a penalty kick in a training session, Didier Drogba converted into the left side, Neuer guessed the wrong way and moved to the right. At that moment, Chelsea became European Champions for the first time ever.

To boldly kick it where no one has kicked it before

So before I get into a fight with my pillow, let’s talk. Football. Quite a lot of matches in quite a short period of time – most of them interesting. Now for the reflection on these games, I might warn you: subjective views and emotions may be found in the following short match reviews.

So let’s go to Spain first, since it is my favorite football nation. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona keep fighting for the title, however Barça managed to narrow the gap to six points. This is due to a few bad matches on Madrid’s account, like the draw against Malaga on March 18th, when the Madridistas gave away their 1:0 lead in added time, as Santi Cazorla curled in a gorgeous free kick and rescued a point for his team. By the way, since Malaga became a big budget side, they are performing quite well in Spain, currently being placed 4th in the league. I’d say well done.

Real continued their bad spell with the game in Villareal on the 29th match day, which also ended with a one all draw. Fortunately, Real Madrid began winning again on the following match day, defeating Real Sociedad by 5:1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

Probably also worthy of mentioning is the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are now both on 35 goals in the league this season, CR7 having played a match more than his Argentinian counterpart. Nevertheless, these two are running a stalemate for the golden boot like nowhere else in Europe.

Oh and before I forget, the Bundesliga is still quite a bit suspenseful too. Defending champions Borussia Dortmund are still leading the table, but with six points only

Let’s get up to the British island. In the premier league, it’s still Manchester United leading the table with 3 points over rivals Manchester City. The team in third place are currently the Gunners, but they trail Man City with 12 points. Dear oh dear, it really looks like the trophy is going to stay in Manchester, we’ll just have to wait in order to find out in which part of town. It may all be decided on the 36th match day, when City host United at home. I am really looking forward to that game.

Interestingly, FC Chelsea seem to be in a bit of a crisis. After coach André Villas-Boas had been sacked, co-trainer Roberto Di Matteo was placed in charge of things at the Stamford Bridge. Still, Chelsea are currently placed fifth in the league and things are not looking to good, except for the away win in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg at Benfica, which the Londoners won by one goal to nil. But in my opinion Villas-Boas was just too young to coach a side with players like John Terry and Frank Lampard, who supposedly did not have their manager’s back. If I try to put myself into the shoes of Terry or Lampard, who are roughly the same age as Villas-Boas, I might also have difficulties taking the coach seriously, as you will always keep in mind that he does not have more football experience than yourself. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of a professional football player to keep it professional.

Now, let’s take a glance at the Serie A in Italy. AC Milan, who just managed to hold Barcelona to a 0:0 draw in the UEFA Champions League, are leading the table by 4 points over Juventus Turin. Juventus on the other hand are still undefeated this season in the league, with 15 wins and 14 draws. That is quite a performance. The last notable unbeaten season was completed by Wenger’s Arsenal a few years back, with the likes of Jens Lehmann, Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry etc.

Inter Milan on the other hand are having a horrible season. If you’re looking for them in the table, you’ll have to scroll down quite a bit until you spot them. Currently placed 8th, with 12 defeats already and a goal difference of 0, it’s no wonder Claudio Ranieri was sacked a couple of days ago.

Oh and before I forget, let’s have a look at the Bundesliga also. Borussia Dortmund played VfB Stuttgart yesterday in an incredible match. If you had the chance to see it, chances are you’ll agree with me on this one. In the end, a 4:4 draw did not help Dortmund much to keep their lead over Bayern München, as the gap has been narrowed to six points, and if Bayern win today, it will be down to three.

Now that the domestic leagues have been covered, let’s come to the interesting stuff. Europe. The UEFA Champions League quarter-finals were played this week, with Real Madrid having won in on the small island of Cyprus as they defeated APOEL Nikosia 3:0. However, APOEL did not make it easy for Real, as the Spaniards had to wait a resounding 75 minutes until Karim Benzema opened the scoring.

As mentioned before, Chelsea managed to win in Lisbon, as they defeated Benfica with 1:0. German giants Bayern München were hosted by Olympique Marseille, who are currently having a bad spell. Situated as 9th in the Ligue 1, they ended up losing 2:0 at their  Stade Vélodrome, which is partly under construction at this time for EURO 2016.

And of course, AC Milan held FC Barcelona to a 0:0 draw at the San Siro, or “Giuseppe-Meazza”, whatever you’d like to call it. Since all the odds-on favourites won, except for Milan and Barça, one could say their’s is the only second leg match worthy of watching. But then again, football is football and anything can happen in its universe…

UEFA Europa League: Manchester United – Athletic Bilbao

Normally I don’t watch Europa League matches, since they usually lack a certain amount of prestige you get when following the Champions League. But since both Manchester clubs take part in Europe’s second most important competition, I do throw an eye every once in a while onto an interesting match. And tonight, I was in luck.

Manchester United hosted the Spanish team from Bilbao in Old Trafford, only to find themselves being the weaker team! The Spaniards were the better side from the very beginning of the match. Countless chances to open the scoring were denied by ManU goalkeeper De Gea, who played an excellent game.

Ironically, the scoring was opened by Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, as he put a rebound ball, that was previously saved by Iraizoz, into the net in the 22nd minute. All neutral viewers felt like Bilbao were cheated by fate. But fortunately, they did not give up and continued pressing forward strongly. The team from the Basque region was rewarded for it’s efforts in the 44th minute, when Fernando Llorente converted a header just before half time.

The second half consisted of countless chances for the Spaniards to move in front, but De Gea was simply too good. Athletic Bilbao not only dominated the number of attempts on goal, they also had the majority of possession. United were definitely not used to being in such a position at home.

Still, Bilbao had to be patient before getting rewarded again. Then, in the 72nd minute, a great cross to de Marcos made it 2:1 for the Spanish team from Bilbao, as de Marcos took the cross directly on a volley and put the ball into the net. However, replays shown later proved that de Marcos was in an offside position. Nevertheless, Bilbao deserved to go in front, since they were the better side by far tonight.

The next two goals came just before the end, as Patrice Evra lost one of his boots and played the ball with his exposed foot. German referee Florian Meyer immediately blew his whistle and decided on a free kick for Athletic Bilbao. Now it all went very fast, as a long cross over the entire pitch set up de Marcos, who took a direct shot at De Gea, who saved it brilliantly, but only to be beaten by nineteen-year-old Iker Muniain, as the youngster sprinted towards the goal and blasted it into the net. Manchester’s Rafael looked like he was not in the mood for defending in that moment, even though he was in a rather good position to clear the ball before Muniain got to it.

But Manchester managed to get back one goal, as the latest goal scorer Muniain played handball just inside of the sixteen yard area. Who else but Wayne Rooney converted from the spot with a hard shot into the left hand corner of the goal. The match ended 2:3 shortly after.

Manchester United now have a huge problem to solve, as visiting teams in the Sam Mamés have great difficulty winning, just ask Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Review: UEFA Champions League last sixteen

There was definitely plenty of interesting football to be seen this week, as half of the last sixteen have decided their fate in Europe’s top notch football competition. Plenty of goals have been scored, in some matches too many, in others too few.

On Tuesday evening, Arsenal took on AC Milan for the return leg in London. After the Gunners were humiliated in a 4:0 defeat in Milan a few weeks earlier, only a few were brave enough to bet on them progressing to the quarter finals. However, during the long wait for the Rossoneri to return the favour of sightseeing, Arsene’s Arsenal have played some very impressive football in-between.

On February 26th, the Gunners faced Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium. After being down 2:0 at home, Wenger’s boys, and men, turned the match around by 180° and ended up winning 5:2. Arsenal’s star striker this season, Robin Van Persie, was the man behind the team’s success, as he kept on fighting until the very last minute and also got rewarded with three goals in the last two matches in the English Premier League. Arsenal also impressed me with their win at Anfield Road, one of the toughest venues to win a match of football, no matter how bad Liverpool’s form may be at the moment.

So, some of the hope of the Arsenal fans was legitimate, as mission-nearly-impossible started off. The Gunners kicked off with a very high pace, one could immediately read their will to turn the aggregate score around. And the audience did not have to wait long, as defender Koscielny headed in the ball after a corner kick from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 6th minute, as he was completely   unmarked by the Italians.

One did not have to wait long for the next goal, as AC Milan’s defense was terrible that night. Plenty of mistakes in their back rows set up numerous chances for the Gunners during the match. Just like that, Rosicky took advantage of a bad pass within the sixteen-yard area and buried the ball with a flat and hard shot into the near post of Christian Abbiati. It was 2:0 already and not even half an hour played.

The game continued Arsenal’s way and the statistics showed at 30 minutes in. Five total attempts at goal for Arsenal, only two for Milan. And keep in mind two of five have already been converted into goals. So it was no surprise that Arsenal kept on pushing forward and also get rewarded for their work. In the 43rd minute Oxlade-Chamberlain got his side a penalty kick, as Milan’s defender Mesbah brought him down with a clumsy tackle. Who else but captain Van Persie stepped up and converted with an unstoppable shot into the top right corner of Abbiati’s goal.

It was now half-time and Arsenal were leading 3:0. Somehow, I was reminded of the epic final in Istanbul.

The second half continued with a high pace, however Milan’s defense was slightly more aware now. Nevertheless, Arsenal still had plenty of chances to increase their lead and by that get on terms on the aggregate scoreline. The best of these chances fell to Robin Van Persie in the 58th minute, as Milan’s defense messed up once again.

But it was not to be for Arsenal, as Milan prevailed. The most dangerous players on Milan’s side were Ibrahimovic and El Sharawy, who both had chances to decide the match at any point, as Arsenal would have needed to score six goals by then, if the Rossoneri had scored in London. The match ended 3:0, on aggregate 3:4 with AC Milan progressing to the quarter finals.

In the other match of Tuesday night, Benfica Lisbon defeated Zenit St. Petersburg with goals to nil. Maxi Pereira opened the scoring for the Portuguese just before half time, which already put Benfica into a progressing state, as the first leg ended 3:2 for St. Petersburg. Reason being that Benfica benefited from their two away goals. Nonetheless, the Portuguese kept on fighting until the very last minute in order to seal their win. Nelson Oliveira scored the second for Benfica in added time.

The two matches on Wednesday also had quite something to offer. FC Barcelona faced German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou and Olympique Lyon headed to the island of Cyprus to face APOEL Nikosia.

Barcelona had a rather big advantage heading into the game at home, as they had already won in Germany with three goals to one. In the first leg, Leverkusen seemed to be more of fans of the Barça side themselves than actual opponents. And so it continued in Catalonia.

Sometimes people in Germany ask me, why I do not follow the Bundesliga or the German teams in general as much as I follow the English Premier League or the Spanish LFP. Well, to be honest, it is because of matches like these. Bayer Leverkusen played like little boys with too much respect and awe for the Spanish side. And the Barcelona players caught up on that psychological advantage.

Leverkusen held out for 25 minutes, but then the Lionel Messi show began, as he put his first into the net after a great pass from Xavi. Before that, Barcelona could have led by two or three goals already if it wasn’t for goalkeeper Leno. Barcelona continued to push forward and Messi dribbled his way past the defense in the 42nd minute to put the ball into the net for the second Barça goal. Leverkusen were very lucky that it was only 2:0 at half time.

But that did not stop Barcelona of course. Messi completed his hat trick at just 50 minutes played, as he lifted the ball over Leno for the second time. After a pass from Fabregas, Tello made it 4:0 in the 56th minute, only to take turns on goal scoring with Messi from now on. Hence, the little Argentine scored his fourth goal just two minutes later. Then again, Tello replaced him as the latest scorer in the Camp Nou in the 62nd minute to make it 6:0 for the Spaniards.

After that goal exchange between Messi and Tello, Leverkusen had a few minutes to breathe before the next one flew past Leno. Lionel Messi scored his fifth goal of the evening in the 85th minute to make it an astounding 7:0 for Barcelona. One might wonder, how on earth Bayer Leverkusen even managed to get this far in Europe’s top level competition.

It was quite surprising that the team from Germany managed to get one goal just before the end of the match, as Bellarabi scored a beautiful goal that curled past Víctor Valdés into the right hand corner of the goal. Still, it was the very definition of a consolation goal.

The second match of Wednesday night, APOEL Nikosia vs. Olympique Lyon also handed out a big surprise, as Lyon were defeated in a penalty shootout by 4:3. But I always welcome underdog sides that progress into the quarter finals, as APOEL did this time. It was also the first time a team from Cyprus managed to get to this stage of the competition.