CL SF : Barcelona Vs Bayern Munich

First Leg : Barcelona Vs Bayern Munich,Wednesday,6th May.
Second Leg : Bayern Munich Vs Barcelona,Tuesday,12th May.


Discuss.

FFS This is going to be massive

Coachessi vs Guardiola.

Most interesting game in years. I reckon Bayern will go make it to the finals though.

Manu Neuer vs MAtS

I can't decide if it's a good thing or not to play the first match at home.

Well, people are divided on this. Some people say it's better to play the second match at home as then you have your fans backing you if you need to overcome a bad result from the first leg, but on the other hand, playing the second leg away gives you an advantage due to the away goals rule as you could have 120 minutes to score enough away goals to go through.

Barca havent played the 2nd leg away in a while though not that its a significant factor but still..

I really dont remember the last time they played the home leg first.Its been a long time i think.

Edit : they did play atleti last yr.my bad lol

Home and away means absolutely nothing when it comes to big teams as they can all score/win away from home.

It's only a factor for underdogs.

Will be either very fun, or incredibly boring, to watch. It's very interesting tactically either way. Looking forward to the tie.

At least with two teams trying for possession the pressing and counter-pressing is fun to watch as a neutral.

Don't think Barca will even try to dominate tbh. The roles will be swapped from their last semi final, with Bayern dominating possession and Barca relying on pressing and counter attacks. Not to say Barca will win 7-0 though, I really don't know how this will go. On paper Bayern should wipe the floor with Barca but I really don't know.

I don't think any team is superior on paper, but if one of them is it would be Barça considering they won't have badstuber and alaba

The question here is Bernat capable of keeping Messi quiet? And will Pep use Lahm or Rafinha to mark Neymar?

Neuer > Ter Stegen
Bernat < Alba
Boateng > Pique
Benatia > Mathieu
Lahm > Alves
Schweinsteiger = Busquets
Alcantara = Rakitic
Götze < Iniesta
Müller > Neymar
Lewandowski << Messi
Robben > Suarez

Your point is?

I don't think either defense is capable of keeping the other teams world class attack at bay. This might just end up being a tie of who scores more.

SchlaaaandRülps wrote:Neuer > Ter Stegen
Bernat = Alba
Boateng = Pique
Benatia > Mathieu
Lahm > Alves
Schweinsteiger = Busquets
Alcantara = Rakitic
Götze < Iniesta
Müller = Neymar
Lewandowski < Suarez
Robben < Messi

Fixed.

Wanted this as the final but I'll take it. Pep vs Coachessi

Think it's good this way that they meet in the semis. Pep actually has to go to the Camp Nou now and we get 2 matches instead of one to enjoy.

How healthy is Bayern going to be? with  robben and  company healthy big advantage to Bayern.

Blue wrote:How healthy is Bayern going to be? with  robben and  company healthy big advantage to Bayern.

They should have everyone back except Badstuber and Alaba. However it'll depend on the players form as well, as usually coming back from an injury will take a few games, at least I hope.

Pep:

Pep Guardiola has hailed Barcelona as the "best team in the world" after Bayern Munich were drawn against them in the Champions League semi-finals.

The Spaniard will face his former club for the first time since leaving Catalonia in 2012 following four years of unprecedented success.

Guardiola's current club, Bayern Munich, will travel to Catalonia on 6 May in the first-leg of the tie before the return leg eight days later in Bavaria.

Taking into account the time he spent in the club's youth setup, first-team and his time as manager, Guardiola spent 24 years of his career with Barcelona and, unsurprisingly, still calls it home.

"Naturally it is very special for many of us, Thiago [Alcantara], the staff... it's Barcelona, it is my home," Guardiola said.

"They are a great team, as are we. We have to analyse what we can do in each game. I believe Barcelona are the best team in the world at the moment.

"You always face big sides in the semi-finals of a competition. Last year we played Real, this year it is Barcelona. I have a lot of respect for them.

"I am glad that I will have the chance to face them during my career, but at the end of the day it is two games of football.

"We want to beat Barcelona but they have a quality team. It will be the first time that I have gone back, so it is going to be special and emotional for me."


The 44-year-old reserved special praise for current Barca boss Luis Enrique who is on course to emulate Guardiola's infamous 2009 treble season.

"He is a great coach and in his first year [with Barça] he could win the treble," said Guardiola. "I'm very happy for him."


Lucho:

Former Malaga (LOL) boss Enrique fired back with a compliment of his own, marking Guardiola out as "the best".

"It’s special as it’s the first time Pep will face Barca. He will face his former players too," said Enrique.

"Bayern aspire to the same as us and have the best coach.

"I always think after the draw of the bad luck for whoever has been drawn to play against Barcelona.

"I don’t care about playing the first leg at home or away. We will go out to win both games."

SchlaaaandRülps wrote:Neuer > Ter Stegen
Bernat < Alba
Boateng > Pique
Benatia > Mathieu
Lahm > Alves
Schweinsteiger = Busquets
Alcantara = Rakitic
Götze < Iniesta
Müller > Neymar
Lewandowski << Messi
Robben > Suarez

Is Ribery definitely out?

AFAIK yes (Ribéry out)