Barcelona 1 PSG 1
Juventus 0 Bayern Munich 2
Pedro scored in 71 minutes.
But I missed it.
I’d just decided that PSG’s game was simple and clean and more strategic and penetrating than Barcelona’s game.
PSG were winning 1-0.
In 50, Pastore had put PSG one up in the Nou Camp. A shockingly stupid pass by Pedro gave the ball away and PSG switched it forward to Pastore in the centre circle and Pastore played a one-two with Ibrahimovic and ran beyond Dani Alves and his left-foot shot clipped the ankle of Victor Valdes, who was Barcelona”s best player in the first half, on its way into the net for one of the biggest goals of the season.
I saw Pastore’s goal and thought : Every team can lose!
And then GOAL ALERT flashed up and I pressed the red button to see a goal from Juventus v Bayern Munich and saw Mandzukic score for Bayern.
Schweinsteiger free-kick, Muller volley, Buffon parry, Croatian heads in from four yards
And when I switched back I was shocked to see that I’d just missed a goal in the Barcelona game.
That’s the first time I’ve ever missed a live goal by pressing GOAL ALERT.
Amazingly, Pedro had scored.
PSG had been tactically superb. They defended brilliantly, blocking every shot or cross.
Without Messi, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, Barcelona had lost 50% of their belief and looked utterly average.
In 62, Messi came on for Fabregas, who had been pitiful.
The move for the equaliser was, at last, a recognisable Barcelona,the team we all know and love.
Messi’s wriggled past two opponents, his pass knifed forward into David Villa\’s run, and Villa laid the ball neatly back to Pedro, whose shot flashed inside the post for 1-1.
Pedro is just a power player, strong, fast and durable, with an explosive shot.
Then Lavezzi landed a wicked kick on Jordi Alba.
In 82, Brand Beckham, complete with his ugly neck tattoo, came on to play a deep quarterback role, launching 50 yard balls towards Ibra, and then Song replaced David Villa to help Barca shut up shop and squeeze through on away goals.
And they did : it finished 1-1.
Pedro’s piledriver, after that Messi-inspired renaissance, had put Barcelona into their sixth consecutive Champions league semi- final.
No other club has achieved that.
But well done, PSG!
Didn’t lose in Paris. Didn’t lose in Barcelona. Onwards and upwards, I’d say. Good luck to them.
Sky’s Graeme Souness said, “PSG were able to pass through Barcelona, which you don’t see very often.”
David Ginola, a former PSG winger, declared “Tonight we saw the start of something.â€
In Turin, Schweinsteiger had played in Peruvian striker Pizarro, who had replaced Mandzukic, to make it 0-2.
Juventus drew their first three games in Group E, then beat Chelsea 3-0 on Matchday 5 in Turin.
Juventus later won 3-0 at Celtic on the same February night that PSG won 2-1 in Valencia.
But Bayern Munich beat Juventus 4-0 on aggregate.
Consider that for a moment.