champions league 2012-13
Borussia Dortmund overcame the intense pressure of the Bernabeau in their second leg against Madrid in the Champions League 2013 semifinals. But is this team ready for the next step when it likely faces Bayern Munich in a few weeks in Wembley?
Borussia will compete in its second ever Champions league final despite collapsing against Real Madrid in the second leg.
The day of reckoning is upon us. Real Madrid must play its most important game of the season when it takes on Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the 2013 Champions league semifinal.
Barcelona's top stars were stunned on and off the pitch in the team's 4-0 thumping against Bayern Munich in the Champions league semifinals. The 4-0 defeat leaves them in a difficult state as they must equal that score in order to extend the battle to an extra frame. Despite their best intentions many players think a comeback is impossible.
Real Madrid heads into Tuesday's Champions league semifinals tilt against Borussia Dortmund in a relatively precarious circumstance. Down three goals in the aggregate the team must win 3-0 in order to move on to the final. A 4-1 victory would force extra time while a 5-2 win would eliminate them from contention.
Barcelona is stuck in a massive 4-0 hole. By all accounts the team has no chance to win the match at home by such a margin and make it to the Champions league final. To make it happen, Barcelona would need to win by five or more. Bayern Munich has only allowed 10 goals through the group stage and the knockout rounds. More importantly, the team has only allowed eight goals in Bundesliga competitions.
Bundesliga 8, Spanish League 1. The Champions league semifinals changed from being a story about Messi and Ronaldo meeting in the final to one about which league is better. After Barcelona was dismantled 4-0 against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, few expected a similar result from Real Madrid in their match against Borussia Dortmund. However the result was worse. Dortmund has yet to lose a match in the Champions league, but the team has not been its dominant self of late. In fact, the team barely made it past Malaga in the quarterfinals. Throw in the X-factor of knowing the Mario Goetze was leaving the squad and Madrid should have capitalized in that game. In fact, 45 minutes in, it looked like the Spaniards had. However, Borussia responded with a dominant second half in which the Spanish side looked lost for answers.
When Lionel Messi fell injured against Paris Saint-Germain in the opening leg of the 2013 Champions league quarterfinal, Barcelona wound up drawing 2-2. When Messi was left out of the starting lineup in the second leg, Barça failed to generate any scoring chances and fell behind 1-0. Messi's insertion late in the game jolted the team and enabled Barcelona to proceed to the semifinals.
Bayern Munich is heading to its third semifinals berth in three years after a 2-0 win over Juventus on Wednesday and an overall 4-0 aggregate win in the quarterfinals.
Barcelona got to away goals against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the 2013 Champions league quarterfinals. However, it was not enough to put away an ever insistent French side that kept finding ways to make a comeback in a 2-2 draw.
Malaga looks to continue making history when it takes on Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 Champions league quarterfinals.
Real Madrid was anointed with the status of the front-runner heading into Wednesday's first leg against Galatasaray.
No matchup in the 2013 Champions league quarterfinals is more hotly anticipated than the battle between Juventus and Bayern Munich.
Many believe that Real Madrid got lucky by drawing Turkish side Galatasaray in the quarterfinals of the Champions league, but the "Emperor" Fatih Terim, the manager of Galatasaray, is confident that he has the assets and players to compete with the Spanish giants.
With the Champions League Round 16 over and the quarterfinals officially announced, it is time to take a look at which were the top players in the first knockout stage of the champions league.
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