Fascinating matches around Europe this week as we learned the finalists of both the Champions League and the Europa League. In the first competition, Atletico Madrid were victorious over Chelsea by a 3-1 margin despite a 0-0 home fixture! It was a tense second leg with Fernando Torres putting the home side up in the 36th minute. Adrian Lopez equalized for the Spaniards just before the half time interval, while teammates Diego Costa and Arda Turan slotted home in the 60th and 72nd minutes respectively to decisively eliminate the English side from contention in the Final. In the other semi-final, Real Madrid had a 1-0 lead after the first leg at home and were traveling to Germany to face Bayern Munich in what had the opportunity to be a massive battle. Instead, the performance was anticlimactic as Bayern crumbled in the first half. Sergio Ramos struck twice within five minutes - in the 16th and 20th minutes - to put the Germans on the ropes. Cristiano Ronaldo then struck a third in the 34th minute to make it a 4-0 aggregate scoreline. It was clear that Bayern didn't have much to add to the conversation going into the second half, pressing forward somewhat better though never convincingly. Ronaldo's second strike, in the 90th minute, sealed the defending champions' fate: Bayern were out in humiliating fashion and an all-Spanish Final was set for the Champions League. Interestingly, both sides that lost had majorities of possession; Bayern more so with almost 65% of the ball. Just goes to show that it is more important to know what to do with the ball than to sit around holding it!
As for the Europa League, one of the semi-finals lived up to the billing while the other ended with a whimper. Juventus-Benfica was a harsh slog with a 1-2 scoreline from the first leg. The fact that the Italians had almost five times as many opportunities on goal than the Portuguese did not help Juve. Neither did the lion's share of possession, 63% going to the second leg hosts. In fact, by the end nerves were showing and tempers flared with three red cards coming in the last 23 minutes - two of those coming in the 89th minute. There were no goals in Italy, despite Juve's best efforts. Hopefully that is not a foretaste of what is to come in the Final! Turning to the Spanish semi-final now, Sevilla were outplayed in Valencia up until literally the final minute of the match. Sofiane Feghouli scored in the 14th minute for Valencia followed by an own goal by Sevilla's keeper Beto in the 26th minute. Matters were not helped by Jeremy Mathieu's 69th minute strike that gave the hosts an aggregate lead of 3-2. Against the run of play, though, Stephane Mbia headed home in the 4th minute of stoppage time of the second half to make it 3-3 on aggregate, Sevilla going through on away goals.
Just to recap then, the Champions League Final in Lisbon, Portugal will pit Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid while the Europa League will see its conclusion in Turin, Italy with Benfica and Sevilla facing off for glory. Expect a blog post in the near future to examine the respective team's chances. I would love to see Atletico and Benfica winning the respective competitions, but more later! Hope you enjoyed the matches!
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