Regularly derided as one of the weakest Leagues in Europe, le Championaat made a big statement and Paris St Germain set the tone for a change of opinion last night when they literally dismembered the Chelsea team in a masterful display that represented Laurent Blanc's finest night in the Champions League. He took Bordeaux this far in 2010 but victory over the blues was a massive result. Despite the unfortunate injury to Ibra (who in fairness was a spectator until he pulled up), les Parisiens still found ways to hurt Mourinho and his men. The result is a 3-1 advantage going into next week's 2nd leg in West London. People may say it is only half time but if you had given PSG just a 1-0 advantage going into the return leg, they would have taken it with open arms. The Parc des Princes was agog was Javier 'EL FLACO' Pastore single handedly danced his way through the much publicised water tight defence and sent a low shot past Peter Cech in his near post to hand his team a two goal advantage heading into the duel at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho was left speechless at the final whistle as his big dogs failed to bite. They barked a little and that was it. The introduction of Lucas Moura caused a lot of problems for the JT led defence and on the basis of his performance last night, Ibra will not be missed if he misses the return leg as we have been made to believe. Of course we know the miraculous ways players recover nowadays, especially as people like Marijana Kovacevic keep on inventing 'quick recovery' treatments. EL POCHO Lavezzi took over the mantle of leadership from Zlatan and made his presence felt in the early parts of the encounter with a left foot volley that sailed past the hapless Cech to gift PSG the lead. Although Eden Hazard equalised midway through the first half from six yards after Silva felled Oscar, Lavezzi restored the advantage when his dangerous free-kick was inadvertently turned in by the unfortunate David Luiz. It was all EL POCHO and Argentina for PSG as they rose to the occasion on the night. Lavezzi loves Chelsea so much. 3 in 3 games v the pensioners goes to show that they are his favourite team in the Champions League.
Laurent Blanc could not have been more content with the display of his boys last night. His pride and excitement know no bounds at the moment. If he leads the French Champions to the semis, it would be his best achievement since he started life as a manager. The french football Legend has turned 'Les Parisien' into a team difficult to surmount. The midfield trio of Blaise, Marco and Thiago held their own. Even if Marco Verratti fails to return from the setback he experienced last night, the likes of Johan Cabaye and Adrien Rabiot can comfortably slot in alongside Matuidi and Motta. The objective is to score at Chelsea and not have the faintest hope/belief that the tie is over. Maybe they can do it. We'll have to wait to find that out.
In Manchester, Bayern Munich attempted 704 passes all through the game with an 84% success rate as against United's 174 with a miserable 58% success rate. But if the likes of Opta, Squawka, MisterChip and Whoscored were to be taken more seriously than the actual outcome of football matches, then the Bavarians would have won by 10 unreplied goals. Despite their dominance all over the pitch, the recently crowned German Champions only scored one and had less clear cut chances than their hosts who were understandably cagey. David Moyes set his team to do damage on counters and Danny Welbeck thought he had put the team ahead inside three minutes but his goal was wrongly chalked off. He had another clear cut chance to put his team in the lead when he shrugged off the shaky Jerome Boateng and set himself for a one on one with Neuer only for him to fluff his lines and the chance went begging. Rooney gave him a mouthful afterwards but that only motivated him to put in one of his best shifts in a United jersey. Bayern ran the show but couldn't produce enough chances to clobber the red army as was initially anticipated. The match ended 1-1 after Nemanja Vidic showed the World he was still capable of doing something on the big days with a thumping header to give United an unlikely lead. Bastian Schweinsteiger quickly evened the score few minutes later but he got his marching orders after lunging in on Wayne Rooney. Chicharito ensured that Javi Martinez will play no further part in the tie after forcing him to be yellow carded when he came on. Bayern have the advantage not only because the 2nd leg will be played at the Allianz Arena or that they have an away goal, but simply because they are the best team in the World. Manchester United will take heart from such a spirited performance. One that the fans have been craving for all this while. as Twitter's @beardedgenius put it in his @mirrorfootball article yesterday. The players are being fraudulent because if such a performance was replicated in the 3-0 losses v City and Liverpool, a different outcome would have be achieved. The red devils have it all to do now in Munich but the first leg proved to everyone that the 20-time English Champions can still challenge for top honours. Score first at the Allianz and who knows? Remains to be seen. Pep Guardiola has been crying foul over the suspension of Schweini and the fact that Wazza dived to ensure the German deep lying playmaker will sit out next week's fixture. But he knows they are bigger fishes to fry. Dante will return but he cannot call upon the services of Thiago. So, he has a lot of big decisions to make next week. David Moyes on the other hand, knows quite well that Ryan Giggs cannot start next week's game. The introduction of Shinji Kagawa (who has yet to lose to Bayern in 5 games-4 wins, 1 draw) added spark and bite to the United team. One would think he has earned the right to gain a starting berth next time out but you never know with Dithering Dave. Whatever his selections are, Danny Welbeck must be the first name on the team sheet next week.
At the Bernabeu, Real Madrid quickly came out of the blocks to start the revenge mission on a once rampant Dortmund team. The same team that prevented them from reaching their first final in more than a decade last season. Tormentor-in-chief, Robert Lewandowski was suspended for last night's match. A big blow to whatever chance they thought they had at the home of the Spanish giants. Gareth Bale scored very early on from a Carvajal pass and from then on, it was all Real Madrid as they added two more courtesy of Isco and serial goal getter, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese scoring machine was appearing for the 100th time in the Champions League and registered his 64th goal in the competition and a record tying 14th goal of the season. It is certain that he will smash the record set by Messi two years ago. Jurgen Klopp was left gobsmacked by the ruthlessness of the ambitious Merengues who have set their sights on a 10th European title termed 'LA DECIMA; by the Madridistas. The Champions League finalists had a lot of chances to score at least one goal but the Gabonese jewel, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (PEA) missed so many chances. Most of those the Bayern bound Lewandowski would have put away without breaking sweat. The midfield was porous without the duo of Bender and Gundogan. Alonso-Modric were at their usual best and the latter stole the ball from a Piszczek loose pass, then set up CR7 for his 45th goal of the season. If he leads Los Blancos to the elusive 10th European trophy, he will certainly be mentioned in the same breath as Di Stefano and Raul Gonzalez Blanco. All the records he met five years ago are getting shattered. The few left will definitely be broken to pieces very soon. Marco Reus and co will have to be more efficient in front of goal if they are to overturn the 3-goal deficit. An almost impossible task but I always refer to the Deportivo side that shocked Milan at the Riazor in 2004.
Finally the Camp Nou played host to one of the most pulsating fixtures of the season. Barcelona v Atletico Madrid pitched two Country men against each other. Two of the best teams on the planet went head to head for the right to be semi-finalists this season. The end result was a 1-1 draw but not without consequences and shortages. Gerard Pique and Diego Costa have been ruled out of the corresponding fixture next week at the Calderon. Los Rojiblancos took the lead early in the second half when Diego Ribas sent an unstoppable shot past Jose Pinto in the Barcelona goal. Thibaut Courtois, whose 26 clean sheets across all competitions this season is breathtakingly unbelievable, regularly thwarted the determined efforts of the Catalans to grab and equaliser and possibly to go on to win. Neymar finally got the goal Barcelona so required but it was all because Andres Lugan Iniesta wears the Barcelona shirt with pride. His through ball, a sumptuous one that reminded me of RuI Costa's to Sheva more than ten years ago, was met first time by Neymar and the resultant effect sent the Camp Nou faithful into elation. But the task will be harder next week when they visit the Calderon. Leo Messi couldn't find a way past Courtois and hasn't for some time now. Only Neymar (2) has scored against Atletico this season but INIESTA will have to turn up yet again if Barcelona's rather slim hopes of progressing are to materialise.
Ohireime P Eboreime
@ohiskaka1990
