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MW 22 April 2015

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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 15 APRIL 2015 20 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Barcelona - Paris Saint Germain .......... 2-0 Bayern Munich - FC Porto .....................6-1 Today 20:45 Monaco - Juventus 20:45 Real Madrid - Atletico Madrid UEFA Champions League results and fixtures Majestic Bayern crush Porto 6-1 to book semi-final spot Neymar torments PSG again as Barcelona reach last four FC Bayern München eased into the UEFA Champions League semi- finals for the fourth year in a row, making light of both FC Porto and their own history with a dominant attacking display. The German champions faced a two-goal deficit but were level on ag- gregate before a quarter of the match had elapsed, Thiago Alcántara and Jérôme Boateng heading them into a two-goal cushion. Robert Lewand- owski added two more either side of Thomas Müller's deflected effort and, though Jackson Martínez scored a consolation for Porto, Bayern cruised through, Xabi Alonso added a late sixth after Porto's Iván Mar- cano had collected his second yellow card of the night. Beaten 3-1 in Portugal last week, Bayern were up against it – and had never before overturned a two-goal first-leg away defeat in UEFA compe- tition. Josep Guardiola's side bristled with intent from the outset, however, and came close to halving their ag- gregate deficit in the tenth minute, Müller racing on to Lewandowski's through pass. Fabiano made his first save of the night but Lewand- owski was first to the rebound; at full stretch, his effort came back off the post. Bayern's breakthrough was not long delayed. Mario Götze kept the ball alive from the left and found Juan Bernat to deliver a perfect cross, Thiago's header leaving Fabiano with no chance. Seven minutes later it was 2-0, Holger Badstuber nodding Thi- ago's right-wing corner back across goal and Jérôme Boateng's powerful leap preceding a header that crept in- side Fabiano's left-hand post. The home side were relentless, and in the 27th minute they moved in front in the tie for the first time. Philipp Lahm's retrieved possession on the right and his cross was vol- leyed on by Müller, Lewandowski powering in his header. While Bayern's first goals had all been well worked, the fourth carried an air of fortune. Thiago picked up possession just inside the Porto half and moved it on to Müller, whose 25- metre shot deflected off Bruno Mar- tins Indi to wrongfoot Fabiano. The goalscorer was involved again as Bayern made it five in the 40th minute – the third time they have scored five goals in the first half of a UEFA Champions League match – cutting the ball back for Lewand- owski. The Pole showed quick feet to create space, and fired unerringly past Fabiano. Perhaps not surprisingly, the pace of Bayern's game dropped in the sec- ond half and Porto took advantage to belatedly get a foothold in the con- test. It became more than that when Jackson turned in Hector Herrera's cross. The Colombian had another golden opening moments later but his shot flashed just wide, and Porto's glimmer of hope had gone. Instead it was Bayern who crowned their night with a fine sixth goal, af- ter Iván Marcano had collected his second yellow card for bringing down Thiago. Xabi Alonso completed a memorable night in Munich by curl- ing the free-kick beyond Fabiano. in the other match, FC Barcelona are through to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the seventh time in eight seasons after another scintillating display against Paris Saint-Germain. Outstanding last week as they opened up a 3-1 first-leg lead in the French capital, Luis Enrique's men picked up where they left off. While PSG were hurried whenever they had possession, the Catalan club looked to have all the time in the world to run the visitors' back line ragged. Two goals from Neymar – the first a peach – meant the job was done by the 34th minute. From then on it was energy preservation, Barcelona-style. "It's practically impossible not to concede against Barcelona," Laurent Blanc had said on the eve of the game; he probably had ambitions of hold- ing out for longer than 14 minutes, though. It was a wonderful goal, stem- ming from a poor Javier Mascherano right outside the home box. Jordi Alba was aware, getting to the ball just ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimović; it was the cue for Andrés Iniesta. The 30-year-old has had a difficult season relatively speaking, but this was him at his best. Facing his own goal, he turned past the first Paris challenge and set off, all quick feet and alert body. Two more opponents were shown a clean pair of heels and the crowd rose en masse. With Ney- mar running into space Iniesta slid in a perfectly-weighted ball, easing down his run as the Brazilian took it around Salvatore Sirigu and prod- ded in. It was a feature of what was a vin- tage first-half performance from Ini- esta, the midfield metronome dictat- ing Barcelona's beat. It was a measure of his regard and team's position that he was withdrawn at the break: Xavi Hernández was not a bad replace- ment. By then it was 2-0 and all but over after the somewhat rarer sight of a left-footed Daniel Alves cross, headed in by Neymar. Ibrahimović could only dream of that kind of service, cutting an iso- lated figure at the other end. He got more company after the restart as Barça relinquished their strangle- hold, their relentless pressing. Marco Verratti ought to have done better with an opening early in the second period and there were 73 minutes on the clock before Marc-André ter Ste- gen was finally called into action by Ibrahimović. For Paris there is always next year; Barcelona, down to the last four and in fine fettle, are looking no further than the next six weeks.

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