There were a few scares but FC Bayern München have done what they needed to do. Having overcome SL Benfica 3:2 on aggregate, it is time to look forward to the Champions League semi-finals again.
Lewa on the sidelines
When the official lineups were released, there was probably a double-take at Robert Lewandowski not making the starting eleven. Not long afterwards, news would emerge about the Polish striker being involved in a car accident earlier in the week.
The story doing the rounds was that Lewandowski had been benched as a precautionary measure – which was more than a little bit strange given that he was picked to play against Barcelona last season, just a week after suffering from concussion and a broken jaw.
Pep’s Little Secret False Nine
With Lewandowski on the bench everybody expected Thomas Müller to play in a “false nine” role, but the early part of the game saw Philipp Lahm venture far up the field, to the point where he even had a one on one with Benfica ‘keeper Ederson.
Lahm has been tried out in almost every position since Guardiola arrived in Munich, so why not add “false nine” to his expansive remit?
The still shaky defence, and a shakier Manuel Neuer
Bayern’s defence remains shaky in the absence of Jérôme Boateng, and even the return of Javi Martínez did little to allay our fears. With the defence in this sort of shape, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer needs to be right at his very best.
A brain fart worthy of the legendary Toni Schumacher gifted Benfica with the opening goal, and although he did pull off a top save in the second half, it is fair to say that the Bayern number one had a poor night between the sticks by his usually very high standards.
This sort of thing does not happen very often, though, so we need not worry too much.
Vidal the Warrior
After his stellar performance in the first leg I said that the Arturo Vidal had become a vital cog in the Bayern machine, and once again he pulled out all the stops. A spectacular equaliser settled everybody’s nerves, and the Chilean was his usual combative self throughout the ninety minutes.
Vidal managed to see it through to the end without getting a yellow card that would have seen him miss out on the first leg of the semi-final, and one has to wonder what the coach was thinking in not replacing him before he did anything silly.
A simple case of all’s well that ends well.
Palpitations at the end
Having turned the early deficit into a one-goal lead in the second half, Bayern could easily have scored another couple of goals and strolled home. However, this team cannot go through a major Champions League game without giving us fans the usual complement of nervous moments.
Martínez was arguably lucky to stay on the pitch after a particularly rash challenge, and had the team been reduced to ten men with the score at 2:2 we might have been in for a messy finale nobody wanted.
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