First Leg
Liverpool vs Roma
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FIRST HALF:
35’: Mohamed Salah breaks the stalemate with a left footed shot into the top left bin of the net. Liverpool 1, Roma 0.
45’: Liverpool back again with another goal from the star player Mohamed Salah who is assisted by Roberto Firmino. Liverpool 2, Roma 0.
SECOND HALF:
56’: Once again its Liverpool that manage to find the back of the net! This time it’s Sadio Mané who is able to find the bottom left corner of the goal to put liverpool ahead by three goals. Liverpool 3, Roma 0.
61’: Liverpool’s Roberto firmino manages to find the back of the net and increases the team’s lead to Liverpool 4, Roma 0.
68’: Roberto Firmino back at it again with another fantastic finish to put the score at Liverpool 5, Roma 0.
81’: Roma are finally able to put a score on the scoreboard from a right footed shot by Edin Dzeko that glides in past the keeper. Liverpool 5, Roma 1.
85’: Following a handball by James Milner inside the box, Diego Perroti is able to convert the penalty to make the score Liverpool 5, Roma 2.
MATCH SUMMARY:
A very eventful match at Anfield with a total of seven goals scored and a relatively even match in regards to possession. However, Liverpool’s creation of chances and their ability to capitalize on those chances led to their undeniably deserved win. Mohamed Salah is the clear man of the match having been involved in nearly each and every goal scored by Liverpool against his old Italian team.
MOTM: Mohamed Salah
Writer: Leo Heuveldop
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid
FIRST HALF
28’: Joshua Kimmich places a banger near post past Keylor Navas. Bayern take a lead in the first half.
44’: Marcelo Vieira with an incredible volley from the edge of the box, Real Madrid equalize the score.
SECOND HALF
57’: Marco Asensio with a breakaway goal set up by Rafinha's mistake.
90+5’: Math ends Bayern 1-2 Real Madrid.
MATCH SUMMARY
The clash of these two football giants in the Champions League semi-final was all but boring. Already before the match, it was looking dark from the Bayern side. With a losing record to Bayern of 6, the worst against any of the competitors in the champions league, they were already set up to keep losing. With the addition of the Bayern side missing multiple key players on the team such as Neuer, Coman, Alaba and Vidal, the game was looking to be very one-sided. Although to our surprise, Bayern played an excellent game of football keeping possession high and their chances higher but was still unable to win the game missing many of the attacking opportunities. Real Madrid was able to make more out of the chances that they got, although their gameplay was luckier than being the better team they still won the match 2-1.
MOTM: Joshua Kimmich
Writer: Erik Lindmark
Second Leg
Roma vs Liverpool
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich
FIRST HALF
3’: Joshua Kimmich with an early goal within the goal box. A cross from Muller that is poorly cleared by Ramos gives Kimmich the perfect opportunity to initiate the goal lead of the game. Bayern now lead with one scored by the same man that scored the first goal in the first leg.
11’: Karim Benzema with the equalizer. A beautiful cross to the far post from Marcello gracefully headered into the open right side of the goal.
SECOND HALF
46’: Karim Benzema receives a full-on gift basket from Bayern containing the second goal from Benzema. Tolisso with the pass back to goal that Ulrich completely fails to receive allowing Benzema to walk past Ulrich and score the second goal for Real and take the lead. Absolute disaster.
63’: James Rodríguez scores off his own deflection against the parent club.
90+7’: Match ends Bayern 2-2 Real with an aggregate of Bayern 3-4 Real.
MATCH SUMMARY
Will Real Madrid; as the defending champions, take part in yet another Champions League final? This was the question on many minds at the start of this game, and the answer is yes. Although their path to the final was very sloppy, lucky and undeserved.
The match started off straight away with a goal from Kimmich setting the tone of the match. Bayern was going to do everything in their might to win this game, and they did. Looking at the stats, Bayern lead in possession, amount of chances and chances on goal. Looking at their performance, they were in many times in control of the game. Getting many opportunities on goal and almost walking away with a 4-2 lead instead of a 2-2 draw. This being the extremely close chance inside the box where Hummels hit the bar on an open goal, the ball was bouncing around and the situation was not optimal for the German international. Although a lot of the opportunities can be credited to Real’s luck or Bayern’s unluckiness, Navas had an extraordinary performance. Saving the hardest of goals and really showing that he is one of the best goalkeepers out there.
One of the pinnacle moments that lead to the defeat of Bayern was the incredibly clumsy play by Bayern’s stand-in keeper Ulrich. Who manages to unsuccessfully receive a pass back allowing Real to capitalize. At this level of play, something like this is extremely bad and in a sense describes the whole match as a whole. Clumsy play from Real Madrid both offensively and defensively, where defensively the tactic seemed to be bunching up in the box and hoping that Bayern woulndn't take advantage of their chance.
Real Madrid’s star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was really out of his comfort zone in this game. Losing the ball and missing by miles when he shot at goal. Something that is not expected from such a top class footballer like Ronaldo. This downfall of Ronaldo allowed other players to shine. David Alaba played a phenomenal match, setting up almost all of the chances and even having some of his own. He returns to the team in top form to show off what he is capable of.
MOTM: David Alaba
Writer: Erik Lindmark