Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich: Halftime score 0-0, Messi-less Barca failing to break down Bayern
Time is running out for the Blaugrana as they were unable to find a way through the Bayern Munich defense in the first half at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona had plenty of the ball but were simply unable to solve the Bayern Munich defense as the match reached halftime with no goals.
Barcelona came out of the locker room playing at a frantic pace but it was Bayern Munich in the 12th minute who came close to opening the scoring. Arjen Robben made a perfectly time on down the right wing, running onto a long ball and moving into the Barca area. Gerard Piqué recovered well though and was able to disrupt Robben's effort which was easily saved by Victor Valdês.
With Barcelona pushing forward to absurd levels -- as you might expect -- Bayern were more than happy to keep hitting them on the break.
In the 20th minute Piqué again prevented a likely goal with a tackle on Phillipp Lahm as he went for an open blast from 12-yards out. Lahm had been teed up by some wonderful passing by the Germans and a great ball dropped back to the on rushing defender by Bastian Schweinsteiger
Barca finally created a chance in the 24th minute after a series of passes found Pedro is space 25-yards out. The striker wasted no time turning and blasting a shot that forced a save from Manuel Neuer.
Despite the high tempo, pushing players forward and Bayern’s willingness to not sit back in a defensive shell, Barcelona simply couldn’t unlock the stubborn German defense. Bayern were being careful defensively and making sure they didn’t get caught out of position but they certainly weren’t parking the bus and refusing to even try and attack. Barca simply were incapable in the opening half to breaking down the defense and remain in a massive 4-0 aggregate hole with only 45 minutes left to play.
What that long paragraph is trying to say is that by design, Bayern have turned this into one dull and boring soccer match.
You have my permission to take a 15 minutes nap.
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