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Champions League April 2010
Champions League: Bayern Munich take their long-awaited revenge against Manchester United At Old Trafford
Ozren Podnar
One German (Bayern), one French (Lyon), one Italian (Inter) and one Spanish team (Barcelona) will be looking for a ticket for the finals at Santiago Bernabeu this year. The semifinal line-up will lack an English representation for the first time since 2002/03, when Milan, Inter, Juventus and Real Madrid took centre stage.
This time, the Premiership teams have under performed with Liverpool being relegated to the Europa League (where they are doing decently and are favourites to lift the trophy), and Chelsea getting themselves kicked out in the round of 16, their earliest exit since 2006. Manchester United and Arsenal made it as far as the quarterfinals, where the Gunners were overwhelmed by holders Barcelona, while United lived to see Bayern's revenge for that astounding 2-1 defeat in the 1999 finals at Camp Nou.
Alex Ferguson's team had it all in their favour in both legs against Bayern. In Munich their 1-0 lead was wiped out in the last 15 minutes in an inverse repeat of that game eleven years ago in Barcelona, with Ivica Olic assuming the role of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, author of that mythical last minute goal in 1999.
In the return leg at Old Trafford the Red Devils squandered an early 3-0 advantage to another Olic goal and a marvellous Robben volley 16 minutes from time. The strike that left Bayern's coach Louis van Gaal awestruck, enthusing about "one of the best goals he ever saw" will long be remembered in the Theatre of Dreams.
The Premiership may not be monopolizing this year's Champions League, but Chelsea's skipper John Terry sees in it a favourable sign for England's chances at the World Cup.
Unlike the past few seasons, when three out of four semifinalists came from the Premiership, this time England internationals will be slightly less exhausted by the time the World Cup kicks off in South Africa just under two months from now.
Milito vs Milito
So it will be Bayern, not United, who will face Olympique Lyon in the semifinals, after the French finally succeeded in reaching their first semifinals of the Champions League after nine futile years. A berth in the semis was reserved for a French team anyway since the quarterfinals draw had paired Lyon with Bordeaux, the battle of France going Lyon's way with a 3-2 aggregate win.
Incidentally, that was only the second time Lyon has reached the best four in any continental competition, 46 years after their progress in the Cup Winners Cup was thwarted at that stage by eventual winners Sporting Lisbon.
The other semifinals will see an emotional battle between the Milito brothers, of whom Barcelona's recently recovered central defender Gabriel will probably be assigned to mark out Inter's prolific centre forward Diego. Barcelona dispatched Arsenal with astonishing ease, despite sparing the Gunners in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium after leading 2-0 and wasting half a dozen phenomenal chances. Inter on the other hand remained faithful to their minimalist style, edging CSKA Moscow in two 1-0 wins, stretching their winning streak to five.
The logic suggests that the winner of Inter-Barca will be crowned European champions on May 22nd in Madrid, and Josep Guardiola's Barcelona certainly hope they will be the ones to collect the most valued prize in club soccer at the stadium of their perennial enemies, Real Madrid.
Champions League Semifinals
Bayern vs Lyon (20th and 28th April)
Inter vs Barcelona (21st and 27th April)
Semifinalists' results so far
Bayern Munich
Group stage
Maccabi vs Bayern 0-3 0-1
Bordeaux vs Bayern 2-1 2-0
Bayern vs Juventus 0-0 4-1
Round of 16
Bayern vs Fiorentina 2-1 2-3
Quarterfinals
Bayern vs Manchester Utd. 2-1 2-3
Olympique Lyon
Group stage
Lyon vs Fiorentina 1-0 0-1
Debrecen vs Lyon 0-4 0-4
Liverpool vs Lyon 1-2 1-1
Round of 16
Lyon vs Real Madrid 1-0 1-1
Quarterfinals
Lyon vs Bordeaux 3-1 0-1
Inter Milan
Group stage
Rubin vs Inter 1-1 1-2
Inter vs Barcelona 0-0 0-2
Inter vs Dinamo Kiev 2-2 2-1
Round of 16
Inter vs Chelsea 2-1 1-0
Quarterfinals
Inter vs CSKA Moscow 1-0 1-0
Barcelona
Group stage
Barcelona vs Dinamo Kiev 2-0 2-1
Barcelona vs Rubin 1-2 0-0
Inter vs Barcelona 0-0 0-2
Round of 16
Stuttgart vs Barcelona 1-1 0-4
Quarterfinals
Arsenal vs Barcelona 2-2 1-4
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