Bayern München crashed and burned in the final minutes at Camp Nou at the hands of Lionel Messi and Neymar. What looked to be a tie turned into a harsh 3:0 defeat, that leaves little hope for the return leg in Bavaria.

First half: hard fought half

A feisty start from both teams, with a fast paced and physical game. Neither Bayern, nor Barcelona looked to defend, pulling their punches from the very start.

The Catalans had a better start with Luis Suárez’s low shot (12′) deftly blocked by Manuel Neuer with his right foot and Neymar’s close range effort (15′) deflected into a corner by Rafinha.

The Bavarians responded through Thomas Müller, who kept his footing and crossed low for Robert Lewandowski. The masked Pole, at full stretch, was unable to reach a clear goalscoring opportunity (18′).

Lionel Messi was kept in check and managed an unimpressive first shot well into the game (22′) and equally unimpresive free kick straight into Neuer’s arms (36′) from a great position. All in all the Reds defense performed rather well, despite being put under considerable pressure.

Neuer was kept busy and had another great reflex save, again with his right foot, this time denying Dani Alves the goal (39′).
The German giants had a tough first half, but managed to keep Barcelona at bay and were unable to catch the Catalans on a counterattack.

Second half: unraveled by Messi

Die Roten were quick off the line and Lewandowski was stopped short of the box by Alves (46′). The insuring free kick was wasted by Xabi Alonso, who aimed straight into the wall and was unable to make Marc-André ter Stegen work from a great position.

Neuer had his work cut out for him as he was tested by Messi (58′) and later was forced to come off the line and intervene out of the box to stop a Barça counter.

FCB had a rough period, with both Medhi Benatia and Juan Bernat cautioned with yellow cards, but slowly balanced out the game.

Messi managed to open the score (78′) with a low shot next to Neuer from outside the box, after Barcelona regained possession high up the pitch.

Minutes later (81′) Messi doubled the score after ridiculing Jérôme Boateng and cheekily chipping the ball over Neuer’s head.

Neymar closed the match in extra time (94′) catching Bayern on the counter and easily finished low past Neuer. The match finished with an overwhelming 3:0 for Barcelona.

Almost 80 minutes of defending and hard work came undone, costing the Bavarians dearly and leaving them with an almost impossible mission at the Allianz Arena in the return leg.

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Goals

1:0 Messi (78′)
2:0 Messi (81′)
3:0 Neymar (94′)

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Lineups

Bench: Reina, Dante, Martínez, Weiser, Gaudino, Pizarro

Yellow cards: Alonso (35′), Benatia (52′), Bernat (56′)

Bench: Bravo, Correia, Vermaelen, Pedro

Yellow cards: Alves (46′), Piqué (66′), Neymar (69′)

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Match Statistics

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Game details

Champions League Semi-final (first leg)
Location: Camp Nou, Barcelona
Final score: 3:0, for Barcelona
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli

Post editor: Michel

The graphical line-up was created using the Lineup11 app, while bundesliga.com and whoscored.com were used for statistical information.