Robert Lewandowski’s transfer from Bayern to Barcelona was one of the most covered stories in this transfer windows and it turned into a soap opera. And soon enough, he made a return to Allianz Arena, this time leading the Catalonians in their quest to defeat Bayern. Barca in 2022 is almost as good as Barca in 2015, with Messi, Neymar and Suarez. Almost. They played excellent, they created chances, but again failed to defeat the Bavarians after 7 years. Bayern have won eight of their 11 Champions League games against Barcelona, including each of the last four in a row, and tonight they extended that record to five in a row: Bayern – Barcelona 2-0.30 – @FCBayernEN haven’t lost any of their last 30 CL group matches (27S 3U), equalling Real Madrid’s record from 2012 – 2017. Invincible. #FCBFCB #UCL— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) September 13, 2022 „We’ve never won at the Allianz and that shows how difficult a place it is to go” said Xavi ahead of this game and he was right. But unlike other games, like the 8-2 thrashing in 2020, Barcelona was not a bad team, and they didn’t play bad at all. In fact, if they managed to score in at least half of their chances tonight, the score would be at least 2-2. The man who will not sleep well tonight (even thou he has a sleep coach) is Robert Lewandowski. In any other case, the Pole would score at least two goals, but in this match, he was like under a spell, and missed clear chances. As much as he is guilty, Pedri can also feel the same. The future Spanish super star had maybe even better chances (two of them) and yet failed to score. It’s hard to miss 4 great chances against Bayern and remain unbeaten.The first half an hour of the first half passed away like it was 5 minutes. From one penalty area to another, both teams just attacked and attacked and created chances. It was just joy to watch the game. Pedri had the first chance of the match in the 9th minute but captain Neuer saved a rather weak shot with his leg. And what about Lewandowski? The Pole was fired up, but missed some colossal chances. The biggest was in the 17th minute, when he got the ball in the penalty area between Upamecano and Hernandez and was all alone in front of Neuer, but smashed the ball over the bar. Brazilian Raphinha had his moment in the 26th minute, but his shot from 20 meters went just inches from the left post. Bayern also had their chances, but not so good as Barca. Sabitzer was the closest one after half an hour, but his 18 meters shot whistled past the upright. After that, the atomic football kind of faded away and unbelievably, the first half ended with no goals.And then it was time for Bayern to punish Barcelona for all missed chances. After the corner in the 51st minute, Lucas Hernandes got away from Marcus Alonso and smashed the header into Ter Stegen’s net. And just minutes later, Leroy Sane, after the assist from Musiala and the quick counter attack finished superbly for the 2-0. After this ‘blitzkrieg’ from the hosts Barcelona was in shock, and it’s very hard, basically impossible to comeback at Allianz Arena against Bayern. But Barca had some chances, and the best one from Pedri, but the Spaniard again missed another fantastic chance and left his team without a single goal in this great match.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – ROUND 2TuesdayPlzen – Inter 0-2 (0-1)/Dzeko 20, Dumfries 70/Sporting – Tottenham 2-0 (0-0)/Paulinho 90, Gomes 90+3/Liverpool – Ajax 2-1 (1-1)/Salah 18, Matip 89 – Kudus 27/Leverkusen – Atl.Madrid 2-0 (0-0)/Andrich 84, Diaby 87/Porto – Club Brugge 0-4 (0-1)/Jutgla 15, Sowah 47, Olsen 52, Nusa 89/Bayern – Barcelona 2-0 (0-0)/Hernandez 50, Sane 54/Olympique Marseille (3.60) Eintr.Frankfurt 0-1 (0-1)/Lindstrom 43/Wednesday19:45: (1.37) Milan (5.10) Dinamo Zagreb (10.0)19:45: (3.25) Shakhtar (3.40) Celtic (2.35)22:00: (1.40) Chelsea (4.80) Salzburg (7.75)22:00: (1.48) Real Madrid (4.40) RB Leipzig (6.75)22:00: (3.60) Copenhagen (3.40) Sevilla (2.20)22:00: (1.25) Man.City (7.00) Dortmund (12.0)22:00: (2.10) Juventus (3.50) Benfica (3.80)22:00: (16.0) Maccabi Haifa (9.50) PSG (1.13)22:00: (4.60) Rangers (3.70) Napoli (1.85)***odds are subject to change***************************************************************************
