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Bayern Munich roars to life, beats Manchester United | Instant Analysis

It sure wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but Bayern figured out how to get the job done.

Lars Baron

Bayern Munich's tie with Manchester United didn't get fun for me until about the 60th minute of the second leg. Bayern won today's game 3-1 and advance to the semifinals over Manchester United 4-2, but this hasn't been a fun two weeks for FC Bayern. Many fans doubted they would get the job done today. Here are my observations from today's match.

  • First real scare in the match came around the 17th minute. Valencia was well offside (so was another United player) by a good two feet or so, but it still made my stomach drop. It was a good step by the defense.
  • United are trying to overload the wings on defense forcing everything from Bayern into the middle. On defense, Lahm and Alaba were playing as fullbacks, but on offense, they had to come into the middle of the field to find any space.
  • Thirty minutes into the match, and it's not been the most entertaining since United are bunkering in and hoping for some luck on the counter. It's always amusing to me when one of the richest and most expensive teams in the world play with fear.
  • I'm pretty sure that our referee decided to not call fouls for a majority of the first half. Some of those fouls were were bad.
  • The first half was pretty poor from all 23 people on the field.
  • Oh good god, Patrice Evra's goal was nice. That ball was still rising when it hit the back of the net.
  • However, before United fans could even finish celebrating, Mario Mandzukic beat David De Gea with a diving header. I don't know about you, but I breathed a sigh of relief.
  • It seemed like United's goal "woke the monster" that is Bayern Munich. They continued to pressure David De Gea's goal, and Thomas Müller made it 2-1 for Bayern before the 70th minute.
  • Uh, I know that I'm not alone in thinking that Evra's foul on Robben was a clear-as-day red card. Robben was on the inside track for a one-on-one with De Gea. Referee only showed him a yellow.
  • Robben!!! Arjen Robben FINALLY got his goal with a (You guessed it!) cut on his left. This was a well deserved goal for my man of the match. Robben was one of the few players that attacked United's defense throughout the match. Well done today, Arjen. Well done.
I'm hoping that Evra's goal today kicked Bayern out of their two week slump. It's been three and a half games of relatively disappointing play from FCB, but they roared to life in that second half to take care of business and advance to the semifinals. They'll play one of Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, or Real Madrid.

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