Other Happenings to Care About | April 26-27, 2014

UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid

Real Madrid (4-0) Osasuna

1-0 Cristiano Ronaldo (6')
2-0 Cristiano Ronaldo (52')
3-0 Sergio Ramos (60')
4-0 Daniel Carvajal (83')

If anyone had questions about his fitness, Christiano Ronaldo squashed them rather quickly. The Portuguese superstar hammered two far-post goals from the left flank then paved the path for Real Madrid's second consecutive league pummeling. Osasuna gave Los Blancos most of the possession, although they also allowed Osasuna to get forward to create more space for themselves. Carlo Ancelotti, like Pep Guardiola, rotated a good amount of his players, allowing Nacho and Marcelo to play on the flanks and Asier Illarramendi to roam the center of the park. The skill up and down the pitch is staggering, and Bayern München will be hard-pressed to keep them off the score sheet.

Real Madrid XI (4-3-3): Diego López – Nacho, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo – Isco, Illarramendi, Modrić (Alonso 67') – di María (Carvajal 74'), Morata, Ronaldo (Casemiro 62')

Bundesliga: Hamburger SV

FC Augsburg (3-1) Hamburger SV

1-0 Halil Altintop
2-0 Halil Altintop
3-0 Andre Hahn
3-1 Heiko Westermann

Desperately needing a result to guarantee a spot in the Bundesliga, Hamburg fell short once again at the hands of Halil Altintop and Augsburg. The marking problems transcended the manager change, Altintop poorly marked on both of his goal strikes. Heiko Westermann was the second best attacking piece on the day, on the end of several Hakan Çalhanoğlu set-pieces. Bayern could very well have a day similar to the DFB-Pokal semifinal in their return to Imtech Arena.

Hamburg XI (4-4-2): Adler – Diekmeier, Westermann, Mancienne, Jansen (Jiracek 69') – Rincón, Badelj, Arslan, Çalhanoğlu – Ilicevic, Maggio (Zoua 61')

DFB-Pokal: Borussia Dortmund

Bayer Leverkusen (2-2) Borussia Dortmund

1-0 Lars Bender (7')
1-1 Oliver Kirch (29')
2-1 Gonzalo Castro (35')
2-2 Marco Reus (P 39')

Another wacky game for the Schwarzgelben, although this time they were not able to surmount the deficit like weekends past. The two goals came on set plays, Marco Reus heavily involved in both. The open first half favored Dortmund's quick build-up, but left them vulnerable at the back. Seeing Leverkusen slow the match down was also interesting to watch, as Dortmund seemed a bit stymied with the lack of space. With Bayern favoring possession, having a potent front four will favor Jürgen Klopp when he game plans for the German Cup Final.

Dortmund XI (4-2-3-1): Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Papastathopoulos, Hummels, Großkreutz – Şahin, Kirch – Jojić (Hofmann 82'), Reus, Mkhitaryan (Aubameyang 75') – Lewandowski (Schieber 90')

Players of Interest

Robert Lewandowski had a hollow showing in BayArena, firing off only two shots in a 90-minute shift. Emir Spahic and Omer Toprak marked him well as Dortmund's attack could not force the issue in open play... Jan Kirchhoff (syndesmosis) returned to team training on Tuesday for FC Schalke 04, increasing the likelihood he could return before the end of the season. The only opponents left for Schalke are Borussia Mönchengladbach and SC Freiburg.