As Bangladesh continue to debate on why they
didn’t the Tigers receive enough support in Eden Gardens against Pakistan
yesterday rather than discussing cricketing matters, somewhere in Allianz
Arena, Munich, Bayern Munich and Juventus gifted me one of the finest battles
to relish. Can a football match be as breathtaking as last night’s
never-jangling encounter? Boy, when these Italian clubs play their traditional
football, the contest automatically becomes a simmering one. Football is
beautiful. Football is the best.
Pep Guardiola’s thoughts and tactics were outclassed by
Allegri. In the first hour of play, I could hardly notice Bayern to make their
mark in the game. Juventus’ man-to-man marking stranglehold Bayern in the
midfield, they ran themselves into the ground and forced mistakes from Bayern.
Bayern dominated in terms of possessions, but they don’t matter if you fail to
orchestrate an attack.
Meanwhile, Juventus created better chances and utilized them
well to take a 2-0 lead and I guess, they should not have left Bayern half-dead
as such teams know how to bounce back. Alvaro Morata and Cuadrado should have struck
gold on the gilt-edged chances they got. Moreover, I think, Moarata’s goal in
the 22nd minute was wrongly called offside. Lady luck wished for an
epic match. Bayern came back and it turned out to be a memorable night for me.
Robert Lewandowski scored in the 73rd minute and
kept Bayern’s chances alive and when Thomas Muller scored in the 90th
minute , I was left thinking the reason
behind buying big names by spending so many dollars. Big teams and big stars know
how to utilize the right moments even when they are cornered. They know how to
snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Allegri made a mistake by taking off Morata and Cuadrado
while Pep called on Alcantara Thiago and Kingsley Coman – two crucial substitutions
changed the course of the game. The absence of Morata and Cuadrado left Juve on
the backfoot . Pep’s substitution took Bayern into the quarterfinals. At times,
such small moves matter so much.
I was satisfied with Juventus. Despite the injury problems,
they put up a brave show. The presence of Chellini, Mrchsio and Dyabala could
have proved best for Juventus.
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