Lots of criticism was placed on Pep Guardiola’s side after they suffered a 3-1 defeat in the first leg of their quarter-final clash with FC Porto. The Portuguese side completely overwhelmed them in the opening moments of their fixture last week and netted a penalty kick and an easy goal gifted to them by Dante within the first three minutes of the game.
While Bayern Munich may not perform at their best on the road, very few teams manage to score at the Allianz Arena, let alone come away with a win. In spite of their fantastic display of organization and discipline in the first leg, Porto were undone by a clinical Bayern side.
Thiago Alcantara, who until last week had not scored a goal in the UEFA Champions League, netted his second in a row fourteen minutes in after Bayern had been giving Porto the runaround. A fantastic cross from Bernat found Thiago completely unchallenged inside the box and the Spaniard had an easy header past Fabiano. It only took eight minutes before a relentless Bayern found the back of the net again, this time through Jerome Boateng. The center-back’s performance in the first leg had been atrocious for a player of his quality but he made up for it by sending in a smashing offensive header that skipped under the goalkeepers arms and put Bayern level on aggregate and with an away-goal advantage.
The Bavarians were too overwhelming for Porto now. Their primary attacking players had been brought back to help the defense cope with the waves of attacks coming from Bayern while captain Jackson Martinez was the lone man up top. Four minutes after Boateng’s goal, Lewandowski, who had been relatively quiet in the first leg, got on the end a neat touch over the defensive line from Muller and headed it home. The stunning play was initiated by a perfectly weighted volley from Lahm down the wing into the box and was complemented by an equally perfect touch from Muller to find the head of Lewandowski. If any goal demonstrated the pure brilliance and effortless class this Bayern side possess, it was their third on the night and the one that put them up four goals to three.
Ten minutes before the break, a hard shot from Muller caught the heels of a Porto defender and rocketed past Fabiano for Bayern’s fifth. Completely demoralized, Porto were scrambling to create some rhythm for themselves. Bayern did an excellent job of pressing and pressuring to keep Porto from building out of the back and punished Porto when they intercepted their passes. Lewandowski found the back of the net one more time before the half again assisted by Muller. The German international sent a beautifully weighted pass through the Porto defense that Lewandowski easily collected, took a touch, and shot. Porto were simply shell-shocked and eagerly welcomed the halftime break.
In the second forty-five, Bayern laid off the gas significantly and Porto looked a little more collected and cautious and less frazzled than in the first half. They were able to string some passes together and made some good pushes towards Neuer’s goal. Porto’s reorganized midfield structure brought Quaresma back to help in the first line of defense and to close the large gap that had formed between their lone striker and back line in the first half. In the 72nd minute, their patience and organization paid off when their captain beat Neuer to push a low cross into the back of the net. Bayern had gotten lazy at the back and Jackson Martinez was being lazily marked but a patiently timed ball into the box wasn’t cleared and Porto snagged a dignity goal on the night. The option to stage a comeback was ultimately eliminated three minutes from the end of the match when the legend Xabi Alonso smashed a brilliant free kick past Fabiano that sailed over the wall before dipping perfectly under the goalkeeper and into the goal.
If there were any questions surrounding Bayern’s capabilities, they were surely answered in the stunning second-leg performance from Pep’s men. In spite of having to work with a squad plagued with injuries and come back from a scoreline that any other European club would consider daunting, Bayern Munich put on a dazzling display.
