Bale Scores Winner For Real Madrid, Win Copa del Rey

 2-1 

It was only fitting that the Spanish Copa del Rey would come down to the two titans of La Liga.  Barcelona and Real Madrid met today for the third time this season to decide who would lift the King's Cup.  Barcelona won the two El Clásico meetings this season, though they sit in third place in the league table with Real Madrid second only to Atlético.

Today Real Madrid were in better form than Barcelona and took the lead early in the first-half.  On a counter-attack, Benzema sprung Ángel Di María and the winger fired off a shot between the legs of defender Jordi Alba (11').  Keeper Pinto got a hand on the shot, but could not stop the ball from reaching the net.

As expected Barcelona had the majority of possession and after half-time began to show signs to breaking down the Madrid defense.  However it was from a set-piece that Barcelona managed to equalize.  Xavi delivered a corner-kick into the box and centerback Marc Bartra won the header.  Bartra's header caught a piece of the far-post before finding the net to level the score (68').

Then in the final moments of the match Real Madrid pulled back in front thanks to a superb run by Gareth Bale.  Running up the left sideline, Bale was simply too quick for Bartra and he was able to dribble into the box and nutmeg the keeper for the winning goal (85').

Barcelona were so close to scoring another equalizer when Neymar found space inside the box moments later, but his shot cannoned off the post to deny the goal.  In the end Real Madrid held on to the lead and came away with the trophy.  It has been a disappointing season for Barcelona who have already exited the Champions League, and with this loss the Catalans miss out on another trophy.

Barcelona Burn Manchester City in Champions League

 0-2 

The UEFA Champions League returned today with the first leg of the knock-rounds featuring a big match between English giants Manchester City hosting Spanish powerhouse Barcelona.  Naturally the visitors from La Liga had a strong Spanish presence, but City too fielded Spanish players David Silva, Álvaro Negredo, and Jesús Navas in their offense.

As Barcelona are prone to do, the possession was heavily in their favor which limited the chances from Manchester City.  At half-time there was no score with only three shots on target combined between the clubs.  City had defended the potent Barcelona attack well for the first forty-five minutes, but the second-half was rather disastrous.

Barcelona won a penalty when Messi was fouled by centerback Martín Demichelis in the box.  The referee determined the foul was an effort to deny a "goal scoring opportunity" and sent Demichelis off with a red card.  Messi then scored from the spot to put Barcelona ahead (54').

On the verge of stoppage-time Barcelona added a second goal from fullback Dani Alves.  Coming in late off the bench, Neymar played Alves in-on-goal and the fullback score with a nutmeg shot on keeper Joe Hart (90').

Manchester City had a tall task ahead trying to score one goal when they replay at Camp Nou, but the second goal may have just ended their Champions League hopes.  City will have several weeks to come up with a new game plan before heading to Spain for the second leg on March 12th.

Manchester City Eliminate Chelsea From FA Cup

 2-0 

The current top four clubs in the Premier League were paired off for the fifth round of the FA Cup with Manchester City hosting Chelsea today and Arsenal hosting Liverpool tomorrow.  Chelsea hold the top spot with Manchester City three points behind in third.  Today at the Etihad though Manchester City were far and away the superior team.

Manchester City had all the offense in the first-half and took the lead when starting forward Stevan Jovetić scored.  Edin Dzeko played the final ball that put Jovetić in-on-goal and the striker finished with a shot that just caught the inside of the post before finding the net (16').

After half-time Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho removed the ineffective Eto'o for Mohamed Salah.  Striker Torres also came in later looking to get something going offensively.  However neither were able to fuel the attack, and it was Manchester City's first substitute that made the biggest impact in the second-half.  Samir Nasri came on after an hour of play and scored a second goal for the home side.  A give-and-go with David Silva set him up for an easy finish from close range for the final goal of the match (67').

Obviously with today's win Manchester City eliminate Chelsea from the FA Cup and move on the quarterfinals.  The next match for Manchester City is another tournament game in the Champions League.  F.C. Barcelona come to the Etihad Stadium for the first of two meeting between the clubs.  Chelsea are also still alive in the Champions League and travel to Turkey for a match with Galatasaray.

Barcelona Break-Down, Bayern Munich Coast

 7-0 

The all-German Champions League final is now assured as Bayern Munich easily handle Barcelona a second time.  Barcelona striker Messi played and scored over the weekend, but today he was left on the bench for the entire match.  True he was not very effective in the first game against Bayern Munich, but down four goals you expect the best finisher in the world right now to play.

Without Messi on the field, Barcelona were quite dull and rather predictable with their passing.  They also seemed to lack the spark that gives them confidence in these big games against top clubs.  Bayern Munich on the other hand were quite comfortable passing through the midfield and extremely organized in defense.

Barcelona were outplayed in the first-half and after the break Munich's lead further increased.  Robben was played into space wide right with a good pass out of the back by defender Alaba.  Cutting across to his preferred left foot, Robben was able to shake defender Adriano before curling his shot around the keeper and into the net (48').

As if the five goal deficit was not already insurmountable, a Barcelona own-goal completely killed their spirit.  Ribery was attempting to hit forward Mandzukic at the far-post, but defender Pique managed to get in-between the two Munich players.  However, his attempted clearance came off his shin awkwardly and settled in his own net (72').  Shortly after Müller scored a final goal for Bayern when Ribery played a cross to the far-post that he finished with a header (76').

Bayern Munich finished the semifinal round with an aggregate score 7-0 and advances to the Champions League final for the second straight year.  Munich are slight favorites against Borussia Dortmund and the two clubs play each other this weekend in the Bundesliga.  The outcome will have little effect on the league standings, but it should be a good preview of the upcoming final in London.

Lewandowski Electric Against Madrid

 4-1

For the second day in a row a German club demolished a top tier Spanish club in the Champions League semi-final.  Like Bayern Munich over Barcelona, today Borussia Dortmund hammered Real Madrid in the first of two meetings.

Also playing the first leg in Germany, Dortmund got off to a great start and scored early in the match.  Mario Götze played a cross into the box from the left side for Lewandowski sliding in at the far-post (8').  Later in the first-half Dortmund had shouts for a penalty when centerback Varane made a challenge on Reus in the Madrid box.  No foul was called by the referee and immediately after Madrid leveled the score.  Defender Hummels made a sloppy pass that Higuain intercepted who then found Ronaldo all alone in front for goal for an easy finish (43').

The Dortmund defense gave Madrid no more free-bees and the second-half was all about Lewandowski.  Shortly after the break Lewandowski put the home team back in front when a good through-ball from Reus played him behind the Madrid back line.  The striker used his first-touch to turn and face goal before finishing his second of the day (50').  Moments later Lewandowski completed the hat-trick when a shot from teammate Schmelzer was blocked but landed for him in front of goal (55').

But the Polish international wasn't quite finished as he was given one more chance from the penalty spot.  Xabi Alonso was called for a foul on Reus in the Madrid penalty area and the shot was scored by Lewandowski from the spot (67').

Real Madrid are almost in the same position as Barcelona heading into the second leg of the semi-final. Madrid have a slightly better chance with only a three goal deficit and an away goal in hand.  Still, like Barcelona, Madrid struggled to break through the German defenses and conceded four goals.  An all German final looks inevitable with the top two clubs from the Bundesliga knocking out the top two teams from La Liga.

Bayern Munich Pummels Barcelona

  4-0

Barcelona travelled to Germany for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich.  Barcelona's defense has been banged up over the course of the season and with Puyol and Mascherano out, Marc Bartra had to start at centerback.  The inexperience of Bartra was a real weakness as Munich were able to penetrate the visitor's back line often.

Müller and Robben were in top form today with at least one of them getting involved in every Munich goal.  First Robben played a high cross into the box for Dante at the back-post.  Dante won the header and played the ball back across the goal for Müller crashing the opposite post.  Müller finished with a header for the only goal of the first-half (25').

Barcelona, as expected, held the majority of possession, however the team only had one off-target shot during the first-half of the game.  After half-time things only got worse for Barcelona as the German club played with more confidence and scored shortly after the break on a corner-kick.  Robben played another cross to the far-post, this time met by Müller with a header, laying the ball down for Gomez in front of goal (49').  There were some questions about Gomez being offsides, but no call was made on the field and the goal counted.

Robben then scored himself following a counter-attack led by Ribery.  Robben managed to find space to shoot inside the box and curled the ball around the keeper with his preferred left foot (73').  Again Barcelona protested the goal, this time for a basketball style pick set by Müller that helped Robben loose defender Jordi Alba.  Again no call was made and Munich pulled ahead 3-0.

Munich put one more in the Barcelona net as Müller finished his big day with another goal.  Ribery worked the overlap with fullback Alaba who fired a low cross into the box that Müller finished easily for a final score of 4-0 (82').

Barcelona have one foot out the door and need a huge turn-around next week at the Nou Camp.  Munich sit with a comfortable lead and their fans have already started booking their tickets for the final in London.

Barcelona Reach UCL Semi-Final

3-3 

The score was level coming into today's Champions League match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, with a slight advantage to Barcelona with two away-goals.  Messi was unfit to start the match, still recovering from a hamstring problem picked up last time these teams met.  

By half-time Barcelona controlled over 60% of possession and worked more shots than P.S.G., but much of that possession was behind midfield and only one of the shots was on target.  Also when Barcelona did have the ball forward there was usually no more than one player in the box.  True the burden was on P.S.G. to score, but the Barcelona offense was clearly missing the creativity of Messi.  

After half-time P.S.G. took the lead for the first time in this quarterfinal.  During a counter-attack, Javier Pastore was played in behind the Barcelona defense by a cutting through-ball.  With loads of space the midfielder scored to put P.S.G. up 3-2 on aggregate (50').  

When the goal came, Messi started to get loose and entered the match with about half-an-hour left, replacing a rather ineffective Fabregas.  With Messi on the field Barcelona played with more confidence and scored the equalizer.  David Villa had the ball in the P.S.G. penalty area and was able to lay off a pass to Pedro just outside the box.  Running right at goal, Pedro ripped the shot first-time to beat keeper Sirigu and reclaim the aggregate lead (71').  

Though P.S.G. never actually lost to Barcelona over the two match span, the two away-goals Barcelona scored in Paris were the difference.