Bayern Munich Seals Champions League Semifinal Berth With Scoreless Draw
Bayern Munich took care of business in the road leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, and with little work needed to do, it was happy to go through with a scoreless draw.
That's exactly how its second leg vs. Sevilla played out. Bayern carried a 2-1 aggregate lead into the second leg at Allianz Arena, where it to avoided an upset to secure its place in the semifinals. A Jesus Navas own goal and Thiago Alcantara strike in Spain gave Bayern two away goals, but Pablo Sarabia's opener in the first leg means Sevilla's hill wasn't all that steep to climb. The problem is it came at home against a Bayern team riding high after it clinched a sixth straight Bundesliga title over the weekend–while Sevilla crumbled in a 4-0 league loss to Celta Vigo and is 1-4-1 in its last six matches in all competitions.
Robert Lewandowski nearly scored off a header in the seventh minute, taking the brunt of a head-to-head collision at the edge of the six-yard box when having his chance tipped just over the bar.
Sevilla didn't roll over, causing a couple of moments of panic in front of Sven Ulreich's goal in the opening 20 minutes, but Bayern was ultimately able to clear the danger without conceding.
Sevilla fired another warning shot in the 27th through Sergio Escudero, who got in behind the Bayern defense but pushed his low chance wide of the far post.
Bayern thought it had the opener as halftime approached, with the side streaking forward after the advantage was played. Franck Ribery was open for the tap in at the far post, but Navas recovered in time to make a goal-saving tackle, steering the ball to safety with a sliding tackle.
Bayern was inches away in the 49th minute as well, with Rafinha serving in a cross to Lewandowski after a wonderful passing sequence, only for the Polish forward to direct his header from an acute angle into the side netting.
Bayern Munich saw the tie out from there, never seriously threatened by Sevilla and content to play out the scoreless draw that sealed their semifinal place.
Here were the lineups for both teams:
The draw for the semifinals will take place on Friday, and there are no restrictions on which teams can be paired with one another.
