Football Sport
the times | Saturday August 15 2020 2GS 5
handedly knocked out Bayern at the
semi-final stage, embarrassing Jérôme
Boateng in particular, as Barcelona
went on to win their most recent
Champions League title. This time
Bayern, collectively, took on the role of
tormentor. It had the effect of making
Barcelona’s reliance on an individual’s
brilliance seem a terribly old-fashioned
approach to the game.
Bayern were one giant magical bull-
dozer and it was never really all that
predictable who would score for them
next. Goretzka and Perisic both had
chances at the start of the second half
and then, after a lull, Alba, having
collected a long-range Messi pass, cut
the ball back for Suárez, who faked to
shoot, then deceived Neuer with his
left-footed effort to pull back a goal for
Barcelona.
Bayern did not wait long to shift into
yet another gear as Alphonso Davies
skated and jinked down the left wing
and into the box to set up Kimmich, his
fellow full back, for a simple yet quite
beautiful, tap-in.
The VAR check on whether Bayern
had scored a sixth felt more like a lull
designed to contemplate Barcelona’s
humiliation. To add further insult, the
goal was awarded, Philippe Coutinhohaving teed up Lewandowski to head in
his 54th goal of the season and his 50th
in the Champions League.
Coutinho, shortly afterwards, scored
Bayern’s seventh, refusing to celebrate
as he is on loan from a Barcelona
side wondering why they did not keep
hold of him.
The former Liverpool forward
looked mighty uncomfortable when he
scored his team’s eighth from close
range. Anyone connected to the club
was utterly shamefaced.
Müller, meanwhile, even had the
presence of mind after the game to
point out that in the wake of such
wonder, teams can deliver a flat
performance in the next round. Such
self-awareness surely means that there
is little chance of Bayern fading.BARCELONA
(4-3-2-1): M-A ter Stegen 6 — N Semedo 5, G Piqué
5, C Lenglet 5, J Alba 5 — S Roberto 4 (A
Griezmann 46min, 5), S Busquets 4 (A Fati 70, 5)
F De Jong 5 — A Vidal, 6 — L Messi 7, L Suárez 7.
Booked Suárez, Alba, Vidal.
BAYERN MUNICH
(4-2-3-1): M Neuer 6 — J Kimmich 7, J Boateng 6
(N Süle, 76) D Alaba 6, A Davies 8 (L Hernández
84) — L Goretzka 7 (Tolisso 84), Thiago 7 —
I Perisic 8 (K Coman 67, 7), T Müller 8, S Gnabry 8
(P Coutinho 76) — R Lewandowski 6.
Booked Boateng, Davies, Kimmich.
Referee Damir Skomina (Slovenia).Concerns over who would control
Newcastle United played a part in the
17-week delay that led to the abandon-
ment of the planned takeover by Saudi
Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF),
the Premier League has confirmed.
The Premier League’s chief execu-
tive, Richard Masters, responded to
questions from Chi Onwurah, the MP
for Newcastle Central, about the
proposed £300 million takeover. He
revealed that the Premier League had
offered the consortium, which included
Amanda Staveley and the Reuben
Brothers, the possibility of arbitration
Martin Hardy
Northern Sports Correspondent
Barcelona
Alaba (og) 7, Suárez 57
Bayern Munich
Champions League quarter-final
Alyson Rudd
Müller 4, 31, Perisic 21, Gnabry 27, Kimmich 63,
Lewandowski 82, Coutinho 85, 89
8
‘Consortium refused help’
after concerns that Newcastle would be
owned by the Saudi state and also over
issues of piracy in the region. He added
that the lengthy delay was caused by
Staveley and the consortium.
“In June, the Premier League board
made a clear determination as to which
entities would have control,” Masters
said. “The Premier League then asked
each person or entity to provide addi-
tional information. In this matter, the
consortium disagreed with the Premier
League’s determination that one entity
would fall within the criteria requiring
the provision of this information.
“The Premier League offered the
consortium an independent arbitral
tribunal... [but] the consortium chose
not to take up that offer.”Chelsea are closing in on a deal to sign
Ben Chilwell from Leicester City after a
breakthrough in talks.
Frank Lampard has identified the left
back, 23, as one of his top targets this
summer as the Chelsea head coach
looks to reshape his defence.
Leicester have valued Chilwell at
close to £80 million, which is the fee
that they received for selling Harry
Maguire to Manchester United last
summer. It is understood that recent
talks have yielded a breakthrough over
the proposed transfer fee, which could
be a world record for a left back.
Lucas Hernandez cost Bayern
Munich £68 million when he signedChelsea closing in on Chilwell
from Atletico Madrid in 2019 and Ben-
jamin Mendy joined Manchester City
from Monaco for £52 million in 2017.
Leicester have also pointed to
Chelsea spending about £86 million on
Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner —
both attacking players — and wanting
Kai Havertz, who could cost £90 mil-
lion from Bayer Leverkusen, as
evidence that money does not seem to
be in short supply at Stamford Bridge.
Chilwell, a product of the Leicester
academy, has a contract until 2024 that
is worth about £65,000 a week.
Lampard is also keen on signing a
goalkeeper this summer but Chelsea
would have to meet Jan Oblak’s
£108 million buyout clause should they
renew their interest in the Atletico
Madrid player.Willian said he joined Arsenal Gary Jacob
after being convinced by Mikel
Arteta’s plans to win silverware.
The Brazil forward, 32, has signed a
three-year deal worth more than
£150,000 a week after leaving Chelsea
as a free agent. Arteta, the Arsenal
head coach, was keen on Willian
because of his attacking versatility
and experience of winning honours
which can help the younger players.
His arrival is expected to be followed
by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,
Arsenal’s top scorer, signing a new
contract. “Arteta gave me confidence
to come to Arsenal,” Willian said.
“I can’t wait to go on the pitch and
do my thing to help my team-mates
and help this club to shine again.”Willian: I want to help
Arsenal shine again
This result would be astonishing in any
league but to witness such a one-sided
game at the quarter-final stage of this
elite competition was almost beyond
belief. Should Manchester City prevail
tonight they should be respectfully
fearful of this clinical, unflinching
Bayern Munich team.
If you cannot have the traditional
two legs, then why not squeeze the
action of two games into one knockout
tie? That was the attitude of both clubs,
but it prompted the downfall of Barce-
lona and will ignite speculation that
Lionel Messi could leave the club to find
a way to secure his fifth, long-awaited,
Champions League winners’ medal.
For the first time in 13 years there is
no Spanish club in the semi-finals of the
Champions League and the future
looks very Germanic indeed.
It is tougher than you think to face
the cameras after inflicting such humil-
iation but Thomas Müller, who scored
twice, hit the right tone. While conced-
ing that “we had so much fun”, he
quickly pointed out that the scoreline
was immediately rendered redundant.
“We have to be quiet and regenerate,”
the 30-year-old said. “The semi-finals
start with zero-zero.”
After a moderate
scare at the other end,
Bayern opened the
scoring in the fourth
minute with a clever,
mesmeric move. Ivan
Perisic crossed to Müller
who, for an instant, looked like
he was about to shoot but instead
almost delicately gave the ball to
Robert Lewandowski, who played it
back to Müller — making his 113th
appearance in the competition — for a
decisive finish.
Three minutes later Barcelona
equalised when Jordi Alba scampered
on to a long ball and tried to find Luis
Suárez but instead David Alaba divert-
ed the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Suárez then had the chance to double
Barcelona’s lead but, in trying to chip
Manuel Neuer, managed instead to
present the Germany goalkeeper
with a relatively simple save.
It was a breathtaking start with
Quique Setién’s team seeking to use
pace and quick-thinking on the wing
to shift behind Bayern’s high line. The
Bundesliga champions, undeterred,
attacked in numbers. Perisic scored
his second successive
goal in the competition
a minute later after
being fed the ball by
Serge Gnabry. The
angle was narrow and
Marc-André ter Stegen
may have been confused
by a slight deflection off
the toe of Clément Lenglet.
Perisic’s next involve-
ment was to deliver a cross
that the Barcelona defence
collectively flapped at. Still
quaking, Bayern scored
their third as Leon
Goretzka played a spell-
binding looping pass into
the path of Gnabry, once
of Arsenal and now in
peak form.
Joshua Kimmich
crossed for Muller to
sneak in and poke be-
yond the increasingly fraz-
zled Ter Stegen for his
second on the night and
his sixth in five games
against Barcelona.
The average age of
the Catalan side was
29 and 329 days, theBayern humiliate brittle Barcelona
Lewandowski, left, heads in Bayern’s sixth goal during
a rout that was started by Müller, above and bottom
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aking his 113th
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2MANU FERNANDEZ/POOL/GETTY IMAGES; PRO SPORTS IMAGES2
L andowskileftheadsinBayern’ssixthgoal duringoldest starting line-up in Champions
League history, and they looked very
weary indeed. Suárez summoned a shot
at the end of the first half but it lacked
fizz, as if even Barcelona’s feistiest player
was dazed by the Bayern onslaught.
Setién, who replaced Ernesto
Valverde in January, looked on with the
demeanour of someone about to be
asked what they fancy for a last supper.
He had overseen his side being knocked
out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-
final stage and, much more important-ly, lose out to Real Madrid for the title.
His only chance to remain at the helm
was to do to Bayern what Hansi Flick’s
side had done to his own.
Both Bayern and Barcelona have
won the European Cup five times but
Setién’s team are in need of a drastic
overhaul, while Flick’s seem more than
capable of dominating for years to
come. In 2015, Messi almost single-The last time Barcelona conceded
eight in one match, against Seville1946