Barça Falls to Bayern Munuch 4-0

Bayern Munich displayed surgical precision Tuesday as it demolished visiting FC Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

Barça super striker Lionel Messi, visibly hampered by the hamstring injury he suffered in the quarterfinals, was not a factor in the clash at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

Playing their usual ball-control game, the Spanish side came up against a Bayern squad that took away their room for maneuver and was capable of shifting to the attack at lightning speed.

The first two minutes set the pattern: Barça held the ball for 90 seconds without mounting any kind of threat; the home team turned 30 seconds of possession into a shot on goal.

Thomas Müller had a chance in the 16th minute and put Bayern on the board nine minutes later off a corner kick.

Bayern’s first possession of the second half resulted in another corner. Müller relayed Arjen Robben’s kick to Mario Gomez, who fired the ball into the empty net from close range.

The German club got their third goal on the counterattack, as Franck Ribery snagged the ball after a Barça corner and worked it ahead to Robben inside the area, though the Dutchman got some help from Müller’s pick against Jordi Alba.

Müller got his second of the night in the 81st minute, sealing Bayern’s revenge for the 4-0 beating they took from Barcelona four years ago at Camp Nou.

Published in Latino Daily News