Champions League Roundup | Barcelona pulls off greatest comeback; Bayern thrash Arsenal again
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Barcelona pulled off what is arguably the greatest comeback in the history of the Champions League on Wednesday against PSG as they overturned a four-goal deficit to win 6-1 and book a quarter-final spot. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich thrashed Arsenal 5-1 away from home to complete a 10-2 win.
Arsenal 1-5 Bayern Munich
Theo Walcott’s goal in the 20th minute at the Emirates gave Arsenal some hope of putting up a better fight than what they did at the Allianz Arena three weeks ago. However, all that went up in smoke as soon as Laurent Koscielny was shown the red card at the start of the second half.
Despite going down to 10 men, Arsenal continued to throw bodies forward in search of goal which inevitably opened them up to Bayern Munich’s attack at the back. Goals from Robert Lewandowski, Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa and a brace from Arturo Vidal saw Bayern repeat the scoreline they managed over the Gunners in the first leg. The 10-2 aggregate score further sealed Arsene Wenger’s fate at the club with the Arsenal fans holding big protests outside the stadium.
Napoli 1-3 Real Madrid
Real Madrid already had a two-goal lead from the first leg, but travelling away from home to Naples can always be a daunting task. Dries Mertens’ goal in the 24th minute brought the aggregate score to 3-2 and Napoli were just one goal away from conjuring up a big upset. However, Sergio Ramos’ goal in the second half, followed by an own goal by Mertens, sealed the match in Real Madrid’s favour before Alvaro Morato provided the icing on the cake in the 91st minute.
Real Madrid comfortably won the tie in the end at 6-2 but it wasn't as easy as the scoreline suggests.
Barcelona 6-1 PSG
Three weeks ago, PSG humiliated Barcelona on their home ground. It was one of the worst defeats in Barcelona’s Champions League history. They needed to score five goals at home, without conceding any, to overturn the tie. Based on how PSG outplayed them in the last game, it seemed far from achievable when the night at Camp Nou began.
Luis Suarez’s goal in the third minute got the crowd going, while an own goal from Layvin Kurzawa and Lionel Messi took the scoreline to 3-0 by the 50th minute. However, Edinson Cavani’s goal 12 minutes later almost sealed the tie. It was the away goal PSG were looking for, and Barcelona had the task of scoring three more in order to qualify at that point.
But, in what was one of the most incredible comebacks in football’s history, the Spanish club scored three goals in the last six minutes of the game to book their place in the next round. Neymar was the star of the show as the Brazilian
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Benfica
Kostas Mitroglou’s goal in the first leg gave Benfica a 1-0 lead to carry into the second leg of the tie. However, that lead lasted just four minutes at the Westfalenstadion as Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang scored the first of three goals on the night. The German side was too strong for Benfica and comfortably won 4-1 on aggregate score.
