Chapter 798 Lisbon Tragedy

One day after Manchester United defeated Real Madrid, the last two games of the 2019-2020 Champions League quarter-finals also came to a conclusion. So far, the dust has settled on the top eight teams of this season's Champions League. All eight teams are from the five major leagues, including Manchester United and Manchester City in the Premier League, Juventus and Atalanta in Serie A, and two teams from the Bundesliga have advanced, namely Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. The remaining two teams are Barcelona in La Liga and Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1.

According to the results of the draw ceremony on July 10, the eight teams were divided into two halves. Manchester United, Juventus, Manchester City, and RB Leipzig are in the upper half, and the four teams in the lower half are Barcelona, ​​Atalanta, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain.

The matchups in the quarter-finals of the upper and lower halves are Manchester United vs. Juventus, Manchester City vs. RB Leipzig; Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich, and Atalanta vs. Paris Saint-Germain.

According to the schedule, the matches were scheduled to be held from the evening of August 12 to the evening of August 15, local time in Portugal. At 8 pm on August 12, Atalanta vs. Paris Saint-Germain, at 8 pm on August 13, RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City, at 8 pm on August 14, Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich, and at 8 pm on August 15, Manchester United vs. Juventus.

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In the quarterfinals of the Champions League, there are almost no weak teams, and each group is the best team in Europe.

Before the match between Manchester United and Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Atalanta 2:1. This result was expected by everyone, after all, Paris Saint-Germain is indeed slightly stronger than Atalanta.

Manchester City lost to RB Leipzig 1:2, which was a small upset. After all, Manchester City's strength is obviously stronger than RB Leipzig, and Manchester City has nothing in the domestic arena. They are fighting hard for the Champions League, but football games are sometimes so magical. RB Leipzig continues to play the role of a dark horse and eliminates Manchester City.

Before this game, many people believed that the upper half of the Champions League semi-finals might stage a Manchester derby again after two years, but RB Leipzig obviously disagreed with this. They said no to the world with their outstanding performance.

After RB Leipzig eliminated Manchester City, if Manchester United can eliminate Juventus as they wish in the subsequent quarter-finals, they will face RB Leipzig in the semi-finals.

However, as a veteran European giant team, coupled with the presence of Ronaldo, the king of the Champions League, it is not an easy task for Manchester United to eliminate Juventus.

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However, the real upset happened between Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

As the two top giants in European football today, before this duel, many people thought it would be a fight between dragons and tigers, and the side that would eventually win would definitely win by a narrow margin.

But when the game was over, the result was shocking to the whole world, because Bayern Munich actually slaughtered the former universe team with a score of 8:2!

Due to the epidemic, this game was played in an empty stadium, with only a few substitutes, club staff and family members of the stars in the stands.

Before the game, under the guidance of the referee, the captains of the two clubs, Yosi, shook hands with Neuer in a friendly manner. In front of the tall Neuer, Yosi looked a little weak.

Soon, the referee cast his eyes from the watch back to the court, trotted back, and blew the whistle in his mouth cautiously, and the game began.

Without the boiling fans, the sound of the ball passing and colliding echoed in the huge Guangming Stadium, and the shouts in Spanish and German kept tearing the grass.

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In the third minute of the game, Muller received a cross at the top of the penalty area, and he made a beautiful wall pass with Lewandowski, and shot with his left foot in the penalty area.

The football drew an elegant arc in the air and bounced into the net in front of the gloves of Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen.

For a moment, the Stadium of Light seemed to have returned to the moment when supporters were beating drums and singing team songs: Muller shouted excitedly to celebrate this wonderful goal with his teammates, Gnabry jumped on his back, and Lewandowski patted him from behind in praise.

At that time, Bayern Munich players might have felt a little surprised or surprised that the first goal came so easily.

But soon they would not.

Muller's goal seemed to be a response to the praise given to him by Bayern Munich fans: Tragedy corkscrew!

Bayern Munich scored five goals in the first half alone, including an own goal by Alaba.

Barcelona? They didn't score a single goal.

As the referee's whistle sounded, the game temporarily entered the halftime break with a score of 1:4.

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In the locker room, Yosi and Ter Stegen stayed at the door silently without saying a word.

For Bayern Munich, the second half of the game seemed to be a reflection of the first half, but for Barcelona, ​​these 45 minutes were much more cruel.

Davis destroyed Semedo in an almost humiliating way. Then, Coutinho, who was loaned to Bayern Munich from Barcelona, ​​came on as a substitute and completed two shots and one pass. He refused to celebrate.

When Vidal lay on the billboard and panted violently, when Yosi helplessly supported his forehead, and when Setien was like a suffering Jesus on the sidelines, finally, at least for Barcelona, ​​the game was finally over.

The score of 2:8 was clearly displayed on the display screen of the Stadium of Light.

In the history of Barcelona, ​​this was the first time they lost 8 goals in a single game in the European war. Up to that time, Barcelona had played a total of 4440 games and lost 8 goals in 6 games. The last time Barcelona lost 8 goals in a single game was in the King's Cup in 1946, when Barcelona lost 0:8 to Sevilla.

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After the game, perhaps in the last 30 minutes of the game, the players on the field had become numb to the score and the goal. The victorious Bayern Munich players did not hug each other excitedly to celebrate, nor did they kneel down and cry. They just clapped and greeted their teammates and Barcelona players, put their hands on their shoulders and whispered with their heads tilted.

Yosi looked up and stared at the scoreboard on the court. It was difficult to describe the complex emotions in his eyes in words.

Alphonso Davies walked up to Yosi and tried to exchange jerseys with him, but he did not get what he wanted.

In 2018, Barcelona legend Stoichkov recommended Alphonso Davies, who was playing for Vancouver Whitecaps, to Barcelona. Perhaps because of the non-European quota, or perhaps because of other "technical reasons", Bartomeu, then president of Barcelona, ​​refused to sign the player: "Forget it, he is a Canadian."

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After the game, Pique came to the interview area alone to accept the media interview. He spoke slowly and intermittently, and his expression looked a little anxious and sad: "This is a terrible game. Now we feel terrible. The only word that can describe it is shame. It shouldn't be like this. We shouldn't have such performance in the European arena."

"This is not the first, second or third time. It's too difficult now. I hope it can play a role and everyone can respond."

"I think the club needs some changes. I'm not talking about the players and coaches. This is a structural problem. The club needs to change in all aspects. I am the first person to ask whether fresh blood is needed. I am also the first person willing to leave the team for this, because I think we have fallen to the bottom."

"All of us should react from the inside and decide what is best for Barcelona and what is most important for Barcelona."

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After the humiliating game, Barcelona fell into the abyss.

"I thought it was a collision between Mars and the Earth, but it turned out to be Chang Wei vs. Lai Fu." When netizens lamented the game like this, Barcelona left the Champions League stage in a slightly humiliating manner.

Bayern Munich's score of 8:2 Barcelona not only shows how strong Bayern Munich is now, but also reflects Barcelona's embarrassing situation.

What's more embarrassing is that the average age of Barcelona's starting lineup against Bayern Munich is 29 years and 329 days, setting a record for the highest average age in the team's Champions League games.

When other teams can shout the slogan "Come back next year", Barcelona may only be able to respond with a sigh.

After the game, Pique said bluntly: "If there is fresh blood, I would like to be the first person to leave the team for this."

This is also the 20th time that Bayern has advanced to the Champions League semi-finals. In history, only Real Madrid has advanced to the Champions League semi-finals more times, and the latter has reached the Champions League semi-finals 29 times. But compared to the history of advancement, Bayern is more terrifying because of their strong dominance.

In this game, Bayern Munich presented a completely crushing situation.

According to statistics, Bayern Munich had 26 shots in the whole game, 13 of which were on target, while Barcelona had only 7 shots, which was not even as many as Bayern Munich's goal.

And 8 goals in a single game also set a record for goals in the Champions League knockout stage.

After the game, Neuer said: "This game certainly reminds us of the 2014 World Cup Germany 7:1 Brazil game, but today, Bayern Munich's domination of Barcelona is stronger than Germany's domination of Brazil."

What's more terrifying is that Bayern Munich's dominance almost runs through the entire Champions League stage.

In the previous group stage, Bayern Munich scored 24 goals in 6 games, and in the two rounds of the quarter-finals against Atletico Madrid, Bayern scored a total of 7 goals. In addition to the 8 goals in this game, Bayern's Champions League goals this season have reached 39 goals.

According to statistics, the 39 goals have broken Bayern's previous record of goals in the Champions League in a single season, and Bayern has only reached the quarter-finals.

Bayern Munich is so strong that they were quickly listed as the top favorites to win the Champions League this season by betting agencies across Europe. Manchester United was left behind by them, even though the Red Devils had just defeated another top La Liga club, Real Madrid, twice in the round of 16.