Bayern Munich vs. Juventus, 2013 UEFA Champions League: Bayern thump Juventus

The midfielder went down early in the first half clutching his groin and was tended to by trainers before leaving the pitch without a thought of returning. Shortly after, the club’s official Twitter confirmed that Kroos had suffered a muscle tear, although the severity of the tear and the length of his absence was unknown until Rummenigge spoke after the win.

With the Bundesliga title essentially wrapped up, Bayern do not need Kroos for the league, but they would certainly like to have their brilliant midfielder for the Champions League. If Kroos returns in six weeks, he will have missed the second leg of the quarterfinal tie versus Juventus and the semifinals, but if Bayern make the May 25 final, he should be available again.

Robben immediately got himself in on the action as a few minutes after coming on he was presented an excellent opportunity, with Juventus making a terrible clearance which presented the Dutchman with the ball just 12 yards out, but a poor touch was followed up with a shot that was straight at Buffon.

At present, Bayern are looking in a good position, but Juventus are still in a game that they could have been more or less out of sight of already. Nonetheless, the Italians will need to improve to pick up a favourable result.

Our Juventus blog Black & White & Read All Over agrees with those sentiments and their excitement is palpable in their full preview of today’s match in Germany. They’re also not to happy with the American broadcast rights holders for not featuring this European heavyweight battle as their main broadcasting event.

While they may have a point about the coverage, they aren’t likely to get much sympathy for the general soccer audience who tend to have a less than positive opinion about Juventus.