Messi Inspire Barcelona to victory, Chelsea off the pace against Munich

The UEFA Champions League round of 16 finally came to its conclusion on Saturday night, almost five months later than scheduled. Following Manchester City and French underdogs Lyon qualification on Friday night, now it was the turn of Barcelona and Bayern Munich to complete the quarter-final draw.

Barcelona book their place into Quarter Finals

With the match in the balance from the 1-1 first-leg draw in Naples, Barcelona were hoping to banish their knockout round blues from recent seasons. They did so successfully as goals from Clement Lenglet, Luis Suarez, and of course, Lionel Messi saw them through. Despite an away goal from the penalty spot from the Italian clubs Lorenzo Insigne.

All goals came in the first half at the Camp Nou as Barca went through 4-2 on aggregate and breathed a sigh of relief, given their recent defensive frailties and poor track record of holding onto leads in the Champions League. Barcelona will now face a mouthwatering clash with Bayern Munich on Friday night for a place in the semi-finals.

Bayern Munich breeze into Quarter Finals

The German giants have had an easier passage into the quarters, as with a three-goal away victory in the bag from their March trip to Stamford Bridge, the Bavarian club welcomed the Blues to the Allianz Arena. In truth Bayern were in complete control of this fixture as well, the prolific Pole Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Ivan Perisic slotted home.

Frank Lampard’s side did hit back before half-time through Tammy Abraham, however, the Bundesliga champions struck back again in the second half with Corentin Tolisso and that man Lewandowski on the scoresheet once more, meaning a comprehensive 7-1 aggregate victory for man imperious Munich.

Bayern will fancy their chances in a one-off match with the Catalan giants Barcelona, despite Messi’s unrivaled influence, the German’s are perhaps the in-form team throughout the whole of Europe this calendar year. With 25 wins from 26 matches, Munich boss Hansi Flick will back his side against anyone.

The quarter-finals are to take place on individual nights this week starting on Wednesday, all matches will be a one-off the fixture, not the two legs as normal at this stage of the competition.

UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final Fixtures:

Atalanta v PSG – 12/8: 8.00pm GMT

RB Leipzig v Atletico Madrid 13/8: 8.00pm GMT

Barcelona v Bayern Munich 14/8: 8.00pm GMT

Man City v Lyon 15/8: 8.00pm GMT

? The quarter-finals are set!

Who will win the ? this year?#UCL

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 8, 2020

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘UEFA Champions League: Barca and Bayern Book Their Places.’ Who do you think will win the Champions League Final this year? Let us know!

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