Tuesday 1 April 2014

Uefa Champions League Quarter-Final First-Leg | Manchester United - Bayern Munich



Tonight, Manchester United take on the Champions League defending Champions, Bayern Munich.  A repeat of the epic 1998 Champions league final in which Manchester United, 1-0 down and with just 3 minutes of added time, scored two goals to win the Champions League.

The match will take place at Old Trafford.  Manchester United will need to play a defensivley perfect game if they are to keep out Pep Guardiola's men, and create chances on the counter attack and will have to convert any chances they get.  Manchester United were in Group A along with Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, and Real Sociedad.  The Red Devils came out on top with 14 points advancing to the Round of 16 where they faced Olympiacos.  They lost 2-0 in the first-leg in Athens, but then at Old Trafford, Van Persie scored a hat-trick to get Manchester United into the quarter-finals.

Defending Champions, Bayern Munich go to Manchester with confidence as they are in good form and are the clear favourites to go on to the semi-finals, and even defend their title as Pep Guardiola's style of play can break down any top side.  Bayern Munich were in Group D along with Manchester City, CSKA Moskva, and Plzen.  They tied for first place with Manchester City with 15 points.  Bayern Munich beat Arsenal in the Round of 16 with an aggregate scoreline of 3-1.

Uefa Champions League Quarter-Final First-Leg | FC Barcelona - Atletico Madrid

Tonight the catalan giants, Barcelona will take on Simeone's Rojiblancos, Atletico Madrid in the Uefa Champions League Quarter-Final First-Leg.

The match will take place in the Nou Camp where FC Barcelona will try to beat league rivals Atletico Madrid as the two clubs are now fighting for the La Liga title as Atletico are in first place with only one point to seperate the two sides and as the season comes to an end, any slip up could mean losing the title, but at the moment, the two Spanish clubs turn their attention to tonight's match as Atletico are looking stronger than ever, and 4 time Champions League winners, FC Barcelona will be looking to make it into their 7th consecutive Champions Legaue Semi-Final.  The Catalans won their first Champions League title in 1992 when they beat Sampdoria 1-0 in the final.  Their second came in 2006 when they beat Arsenal 2 to 1.  Their third title came in the Guardiola era when Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0, and their most recent title came in 2011 again under Pep Guardiola winning 3-1 over Manchester United.  FC Barcelona were in Group H along with Ajax, Milan, and Celtic.  They finished top of their group with 13 points making it through to the knockout phase where they faced Manchester City.  FC Barcelona advanced to the quarter-finals with an aggregate scoreline of 4-1.

 Atletico Madrid will  be aiming to pull off an upset after their impressive 4-1 win over 7 time Champions League winners A.C Milan.  The farthest Atletico has ever gone in the competition was when they reached the 1974 European Cup Final where they lost 4-0 to Bayern Munich.  Atletico were in Group G along with Zenit, Austria Wien, and Porto.  They made it through to the Round of 16 after finishing first in Group G with 16 points.  In the Round of 16, Atletico beat A.C Milan with an aggregate scoreline of 5-1.  Atletico are unbeaten in the Champions League so far with 7 wins and 1 draw and will be hoping to keep that unbeaten record alive tonight in the Nou Camp.  As of La Liga, Atletico are in first place with 76 points while their opponents, FC Barcelona find themselves behind Atletico with 75 points.