Wembley, here we come! Magnificent Bayern are through to their third Champions League final in the last four seasons after a stunning 3-0 victory in Wednesday’s semi-final return away to Barcelona, inflicting a first home defeat on Blaugrana in their last 21 European fixtures, and winning the tie by a scarcely believable 7-0 margin.
The vast 96,636 sell-out crowd at the legendary Camp Nou saw Jupp Heynckes’ men produce 25 awe-inspiring minutes of controlled counter-attacking football at the start, and although the home side clawed their way into it after that, Manuel Neuer was never unduly troubled as the first half drew to a goalless close.
Arjen Robben brilliantly scored what was always likely to be the tie-killing away goal three minutes after the restart from a glorious David Alaba crossfield pass, and the impression it was all over was reinforced when Barça boss Tito Vilanova withdrew superstars Xavi and Andres Iniesta but declined to send on the benched Lionel Messi. Gerard Piqué put through his own goal and Thomas Müller scored the third as the men in red completed one of their greatest two-legged European wins in living memory.
The final at Wembley on 25 May will be the first-ever all-German affair, following Borussia Dortmund’s 4-3 aggregate victory over Real Madrid in the other semi-final. In an ironic twist, the Bavarians' next match is a full dress rehearsal for the prestige European final when Munich travel to Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
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