Champions League 2012-13: The week before the international break

The major matches of the week:

With Olympique Marseille and Lyon losing important points, a win was not becoming an absolute must for PSG in the away match against Saint Etienne, a team fighting to enter the Champions League zone.

David Beckham started the match from the first minutes. PSG line-up was missing Marco Veratti and Lucas Moura that evening.

However, Pastore, Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi were there to press Saint Etienne defenders during the first half, when the home side player made a crucial mistake to leave the ball to Pastore, who easily chipped the ball over the goalkeeper. In another occasion the two Argentines earned a penalty for Zlatan, who, again, chipped the ball into the net. It was the 19^th minute of the match.

It was too early to celebrate the victory for the Paris-side though.

Aubameyang’s cross from the right wing disclosed the main weakness of PSG defense: slowness. Barcelona scouts were probably happy to see Alex being too heavy to clear the cross immediately, so the ball hit his leg and appeared in the back of the net.

The second half strategy of Carlo Ancelotti was clear: maintain the lead. The team was more focused on the matters in the back, so only rarely were Ibrahimovic and teammates bothering the opponent’s goalkeeper. The home side, on the other hand, was determined to earn at least a point, to stay in the fight for the Champions League tickets. The partnership between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Brandao kept on troubling PSG’s defensive positions and the equalizer came on the 72nd minute, when Clerc made a quick decision to shoot from a distance when the penalty box was full of panicking people. 2-2. PSG is now 5 points clear over Lyon 9 matches before the league is over.

Bayern managed to win against Bayer before the players left for the international matches. Bayer was the

only Bundesliga team in the season defeating the Munich side so far. Jupp Heynckes gave a rest to half of his team, including Philippe Lahm, Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Mario Mandzukic, thus introducing Xerdan Shaqiri and Mario Gomez among others. The two organized a fantastic counterattack, where Gomez showed his best qualities to go on and score a great opener on the 37^th minute. The moment came after a calm half time, where the teams were trying to touch the pulse of the game. The tempo was not too high and lots of battles were won by the defending sides. The second half brought some more passion, where the teams went on to calm the match again after 30 minutes of play, when suddenly a chaos in Bayern’s box led to an equalizer. None of the teams had intensions to clinch the three points, but a free kick three minutes before the final whistle saw Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cross appear in the net after meeting Wollscheid’s head on its way. The Champions League vice-champions never wasted the advantage after such a present from Bayer’s player. Bayern managed to take the revenge and meanwhile get even closer to the season gold. The team has to earn maximum 5 points in the remaining 8 matches to obtain the league title after a 2-year break.

Highlights of the week:

-               Barcelona won its 24^th league match this season, having Lionel Messi to score in his 18^th consecutive league match: an incredible result that might never be repeated again! The other Spanish giant

demonstrated something extraordinary, scoring 3 goals in a spell of 5 minutes to turn the matters in the match upside down. The team was losing 1-2 by then and the goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, Luca Modric and Gonzalo Higuain made it 4-2. Karim Benzema added another one in the last minute, to set the final score of the match against Mallorca: 5-2. The third Spanish Champions League participant lost to Espanyol at home, leaving the 5^th place to the former Champions League participants Valencia. League leaders Barcelona have earned 74 points: 13 more than Real. And Malaga is three points behind the 4^th placed team. The three will be hosted by Celta, Real Zaragoza and Rayo Vallecano respectively in the upcoming round,

-               Borussia played against Freiburg and destroyed the opponents, scoring 5 goals in a home match. The title is just minutes away to be officially lost, and the second place is getting a bit more secure, so it is time for the Dortmund team to concentrate on the important Champions League quarterfinal matches against Malaga,

-               Wesley Sneijder’s and Burak Yilmaz’s goals decided the outcome of the Turkish league match against Kayserispor. With only 4 matches left for the league to end, Galatasaray is 4 points ahead of rivals Fenerbahce,

-               Juventus didn’t have an easy match, but deservedly earned three points in Bologna. The difference of 9 points is still there for the team to prioritize the upcoming Champions League matches against Bayern.

The upcoming weekend:

This Friday will be symbolical for the French League, where the strongest title candidates will host the defending champions. Montpellier has improved its positions after being eliminated from the Champions League, so the impulsive talks about the team travelling to Paris to leave the title there need to be dropped. 

The most expected match in the Italian Serie A is going to take place in Milan this Saturday. Juventus is going to visit rivals Inter. People expecting Juventus to save some energy for Champions League know nothing about this rivalry called Derby d’Italia. Juventus still remembers who stopped its incredible 49-match undefeated run in the first part of the league.  

Barcelona is expecting its coach Tito Vilanova to overtake the team from his assistant this weekend.

The weekend can already crown Bayern German champions, if the team wins its match and Borussia 

doesn’t. The current champions will play earlier than Bayern. 

Club	Last Matches	Next match	Position in the domestic league
FC Barcelona (Spain)	17.03 Rayo Vallec. (H) 3-1	30.03 Celta (A)	1
Real Madrid (Spain)	16.02 R. Mallorca (H) 5-2	30.03 Real Zarag. (A)	2
Malaga (Spain)	17.03 Espanyol (H) 0-2	30.03 Rayo Vallec. (A)	6
Bayern (Germany)	16.03 Bayer (A) 2-1	30.03 Hamburger (H)	1
Borussia D. (Germany)	16.03 Freiburg (H) 5-1	30.03 Stuttgart (A)	2
Galatasaray (Turkey)	16.03 Kayserispor (A) 3-1	30.03 Istanbul BB (H)	1
Juventus (Italy)	16.03 Bologna (A) 2-0	30.03 Inter (A)	1
PSG (France)	17.03 St. Etienne (A) 2-2	29.03 Montpellier (H)	1