Turin - FC Bayern Munich booked their place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League with an impressive, yet hard-fought, 2-0 win away to Juventus (4-0 on aggregate).
After weathering an early Italian storm, Mario Mandzukic struck to effectively put the tie beyond the Serie A leaders, leaving substitute Claudio Pizarro to wrap up proceedings in added time.
End to end
Needing to score at least twice to turn the tie in their favour, it came as no surprise to see Juventus fly out of the blocks all guns blazing. Mirko Vucinic warmed the palms of Manuel Neuer just two minutes in and, with Bayern struggling to get to grips with the Old Lady’s high-tempo approach, Mandzukic picked up a potentially costly booking that would rule him out of the Bundesliga champions’ next European assignment.
The Croatian popped up in his customary attacking role moments later, but his close-range effort deflected narrowly wide off a defender after a typically industrious bit of play fromPhilipp Lahm. Juventus offered up an immediate response through Andrea Pirlo, whose venomous free kick forced a fine reaction save from Neuer.
Super Mario II strikes
The pattern of the contest continued in much the same vein as the half wore on, with Bayern’s Thomas Müller next to try his luck, firing wide from 18 yards. Arjen Robben andFranck Ribery were seeing much more of the ball on the flanks and, after an eye injury to Daniel van Buyten saw Jerome Boateng enter the fray, David Alaba stepped up to keep Gianluigi Buffon on his toes.
Neuer met his counterpart’s heroics with a pair of excellent saves from Pirlo and Fabio Quagliarella after the restart, before Robben finally got the better of Juventus’ no1, only to see his trademark curling strike come back off the post. However, that served only as a prelude of things to come, with Buffon reacting superbly to keep out Javi Martinez's initial effort, but unable to prevent poacher Mandzukic heading home the follow up.
Pizza delivery
Sitting on a three-goal aggregate lead, Bayern at last began to express themselves, with Robben leading a lightning-quick breakaway and Müller blasting wide from 18 yards. Jupp Heynckes’ men continued to probe, but Robben was unable to find a way past veteran stopper Buffon.
There was still time for one final slice of action in injury time, though, as Pizarro met Schweinsteiger's incisive pass and fired into the bottom corner to crown a thoroughly professional evening's work and ensure Bayern the smoothest of passages into the last four of the competition, where they join Borussia Dortmund, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Line-ups:
Juventus: Buffon - Bonucci, Barzagli, Chiellini - Padoin (Isla 69'), Pogba, Pirlo, Marchisio (Giaccherini 78'), Asamoah - Vucinic, Quagliarella (Matri 66')
Bayern: Neuer - Lahm, van Buyten (Boateng 35'), Dante, Alaba - Martinez, Schweinsteiger - Robben, Müller, Ribery (Gustavo 80') - Mandzukic (Pizarro 83')
Goals: 0-1 Mandzukic (64'), 0-2 Pizarro (90+1')
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