Bayern restore some pride but never threaten upset

Bayern Munich 1 Barcelona 1:JÜRGEN KLINSMANN got his wish as FC Bayern München departed the competition with heads held high, even if Seydou Keita denied them victory on the night as FC Barcelona eased through to the semi-finals with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate triumph.

After their 4-0 first-leg defeat in Catalonia, Bayern were determined to restore pride, and appeared on course for a morale-boosting win when Franck Ribéry put them in front early in the second half.

However, though deprived of coach Josep Guardiola, who was serving a one-match touchline ban, a subdued Barça sprang to life to conjure an equaliser through Keita to reach the last four for the third time in four years.

It was always going to take a miracle for Bayern to overturn the substantial deficit in front of their fans and, as expected, it proved to be a bridge too far for the Bundesliga side.

Bayern made four changes to the team which crashed to defeat in Spain last week, with Lucio and Philipp Lahm reinforcing the defence in place of Breno and Massimo Oddo, while Jose Ernesto Sosa started on the wing for Hamit Altintop and Andreas Ottl took over from Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Barcelona lost Thierry Henry to a fever with Keita given the nod. Eric Abidal took the place of the suspended Rafael Marquez.

Klinsmann had promised his team would be on the front foot from the opening minute, and Bayern were true to their coach’s word as they showed more enterprise in the first five minutes than in all 90 of their first-leg defeat.

The German titleholders should even have raised hopes of an improbable comeback with an early goal, only for Luca Toni to miscue his header from José Ernesto Sosa’s pinpoint delivery.

While the Argentinian, a surprise inclusion in place of Schweinsteiger, provided menace on the right, a penetrating Ribéry run down the left forced a corner from which Zé Roberto was given a clear sight of goal, but the Brazilian scuffed his effort.

After riding out the early storm, Barcelona eased their way back into it, even if they only provided glimpses of the incisive forward play that had undone Bayern at the Camp Nou.

With Henry on the bench following illness, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o led the line, but when they did threaten Lucio and Lahm showed why Klinsmann had talked glowingly of the stability the duo would provide.

The Brazilian centre half, in particular, provoked thoughts of what might have been with a superb lunging block to deny Eto’o a carbon copy of his first-leg goal after Messi’s ingenious reverse pass had again sliced open the Bayern back line.

If Bayern were going to make a game of it, it was imperative they scored early on and they had the chance to do so in the sixth minute when Sosa robbed Abidal and swung in a tempting cross which Toni unconvincingly flicked wide from eight yards.

Toni had the ball in the back of the net a minute later, but the linesman’s flag had long since been raised to deny him.

Italy international Toni then turned provider for Ribery to fire just over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area as the home side made a bright start.

It was from a through ball of which Messi would have been proud that Bayern reduced their arrears barely two minutes into the second half.

Zé Roberto’s carefully crafted pass found Ribéry, who bided his time before sidestepping Víctor Valdés and rifling in.

Though the capacity crowd at the Munich Arena erupted, the French international’s muted celebrations suggested he knew his fourth goal of the competition was little more than window dressing.

Barca needed time to get into the game, but their first spell of pressure coincided with several incursions from Messi.

He set up Samuel Eto’o in the 34th minute, but the Cameroon international’s shot was blocked by Lucio.

Bayern weathered the first storm and returned to the other end for Toni to blaze his angled drive over the crossbar after being fed by Mark van Bommel.

Even though their overall advantage was barely dented by the goal, Barca’s pride was still at stake and they showed they did not want to be beaten on the night.

They had an appeal for a penalty waved away by referee Roberto Rosetti when van Bommel used his strength to barge Andres Iniesta to the ground.

The goal the visitors had been threatening came, though, 17 minutes from time as Keita’s crisp drive put the finishing touch to an intricate move orchestrated by Iniesta.

A Xavi Hernández free-kick rippled the side-netting of Hans Jörg Butt’s goal in the closing stages, but it mattered not; Barcelona had already done more than enough at Camp Nou.

BAYERN MUNICH: Butt, Lell, Lucio, Demichelis, Lahm, Sosa (Altintop 78), Van Bommel, Ottl, Ze Roberto (Borowski 78), Ribery, Toni. Subs not used: Rensing, van Buyten, Badstuber, Breno. Booked: Lucio, Demichelis, Borowski, Lell.

BARCELONA:Valdes, Dani Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal, Xavi, Toure Yaya, Keita, Messi, Eto'o, Iniesta (Hleb 78). Subs not used: Pinto, Caceres, Gudjohnsen, Henry, Sylvinho, Busquets. Booked: Dani Alves, Puyol. 73.

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).