This week’s Uefa Champions League fixtures decided who is worthy to participate in this year’s semi-final.
On Tuesday April 21st, Barcelona squared off against a nervous PSG side at home in the Nou Camp in front of 84,477 fans. PSG welcomed back Marco Verratti, Thiago Motta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the starting lineup while star centre back Thiago Silva was sidelined with a hamstring injury. The game did not take long for the ball to find the back of the net. A brilliant run through the midfield passing through three defenders, Barca midfielder Andres Iniesta was left open to find striker Neymar who slipped past David Luiz; who has been atrocious in defense for PSG this quarter final, and avoided goalkeeper Sirigu to open the scoring.
Later in the first half, Dani Alves was found wide open in the right flank and whipped in a cross that saw Neymar slip in behind David Luiz to give Barca a two goal advantage and a 5-1 aggregate lead. It was an embarrassing and rather unpredicted performance by Paris who should have done much better against their group stage rivals earlier in the season.
The Second match on Tuesday was Bayern Munich facing FC Porto. In the first leg Porto gained a 3-1 goal advantage however this game was much different. The Bavarians took the game to the heart of the Portuguese early on, and by the 25th minute of the first half Porto were trailing 3-0. Goals from Thiago Alcantara, Jerome Boateng and Robert Lewandowski generated a look of fear amongst Porto players. By the end of the half, it was 5-0. The game finished 6-1 giving Bayern a 7-4 aggregate victory. Porto was so close.
On Wednesday, April, 22nd the Madrid Derby took flight at the Estadio Santiago Berneabeu. Chances flew from all sides and most noticeably through Real Madrid in the first and second half. They moved the ball swiftly across the pitch leaving Atletico unbalanced in formation. Late in the second half Arda Turan challenged Sergio Ramos with studs up awarding him a second yellow card and leaving Atletico with ten men. In the 87th minute great passing from Madrid left Ronaldo running through in the box. He slotted the ball across with a great ground pass to Chicharito and he scored the winning goal to knock out their neighbours.
Overall this tie was tense and tough to score, due to some great Goalkeeping by Oblak from Atletico, but it was Real who walked away with a pass to the next round. This also left Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti with a sign of relief as his position as manager is being scrutinized by the Madrid media and he potentially may be asked to leave.
In France, Monaco met Juventus with the aggregate leaning on Juve’s side 1-0. This match was not as entertaining as the others. It was slow and very few chances were created on either side of the field. In the first half a low cross from Monaco left defender Andrea Barzagli awkwardly clearing the ball out of play while almost scoring in his own net. On the other end in the first half Carlos Tevez was left open on the edge of the 18 yard box only to sail the ball to the right of the goal. The second half only generated one true opportunity. Monaco crossed the ball in and Gianluigi Buffon missed the punch. Patrice Evra battled the man in the six yard box to clear the ball away keeping Juve alive. At the final whistle the game ended 0-0 and Juventus on aggregate progress to the semifinals.
On Friday, April, 24th, the Semifinal draw will be held. I think Juventus will match with Madrid and Barcelona will face Bayern Munich.
RAB Sports 
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