Two epic enounters in the Champions League: A night to remember
They say only the Barcelonas, the Bayerns, the Uniteds can give an edge-of-the-seat, pulsating, high action football match in the Champions League. Well, they certainly did not hear about a Malaga, or a BVB Dortmund, or a Galatasaray. All three teams played out of their skins to give us a night to remember in Europe's elite competition.
The first legs for the ties ended in a stalemate at La Rosaleda and the match at Santiago Bernebau was lets just say a one-sided affair with Real Madrid running out easy victors. The 2nd leg though, for both games presented a completely opposite scene to the first leg, the game at the Westfalenstadion saw the home crowd go absolutely nuts(understatement) when the final whistle was blown, while the home fans at Turk Telecom Arena were left proud, happy, and satisfied after they recorded a win over the best European side in history, albeit it went in vain but there are not many occasions in history where Galatasaray have managed to out-do Real Madrid.
Dortmund were looking down and out, Elisue gave Malaga the lead with the added advantage of it being an away goal, and |Dortmund were still trailing when the 90 minutes were up. They looked decent enough for the 90 but the moment that extra time board went up, they changed gear, may be went to a gear many thought they do not possess. The young sensation Marco Reus put them on level terms, and by the time Malaga had known what has hit them, Felipe Santana made it 3-2 to take the home crowd into absolute delirium. Whoever now faces this juggernaut will be in for a rough ride, Gotze, Reus, Lewandowski, Gundogan, Bender, are all on their way to become outstanding players in the future, some of them already are, Dortmund possibly has the best young squad coming up.
Over to Telekom Arena where it seemed like another stroll for Real Madrid who were carrying a healthy advantage coming to the hostile arena in Turkey. A decent team traveled to Turkey and were ahead in the 7th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo putting the game and the tie supposedly to bed. But the Turkish giants are a force to be reckoned with especially at home, and in a 15 minute spell dominated by Sneijder and Drogba (former protege of Mourinho) they scored three goals, the crowd was sensing something spectacular, well the spectacular did happen, they won the game but could not win the tie. But for Galatasaray that win is as good as progressing. They will certainly be back in the competition next time around, and perhaps be more stronger than they are.
From how things panned out yesterday, Barcelona and Bayern Munich should realize that nothing can be taken for granted and cometh the biggest stage, unlikely heroes can occur, so they need to put their ties to bed and look forward to a semifinal clash where possibly both will face each other.
Dortmund were looking down and out, Elisue gave Malaga the lead with the added advantage of it being an away goal, and |Dortmund were still trailing when the 90 minutes were up. They looked decent enough for the 90 but the moment that extra time board went up, they changed gear, may be went to a gear many thought they do not possess. The young sensation Marco Reus put them on level terms, and by the time Malaga had known what has hit them, Felipe Santana made it 3-2 to take the home crowd into absolute delirium. Whoever now faces this juggernaut will be in for a rough ride, Gotze, Reus, Lewandowski, Gundogan, Bender, are all on their way to become outstanding players in the future, some of them already are, Dortmund possibly has the best young squad coming up.
Over to Telekom Arena where it seemed like another stroll for Real Madrid who were carrying a healthy advantage coming to the hostile arena in Turkey. A decent team traveled to Turkey and were ahead in the 7th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo putting the game and the tie supposedly to bed. But the Turkish giants are a force to be reckoned with especially at home, and in a 15 minute spell dominated by Sneijder and Drogba (former protege of Mourinho) they scored three goals, the crowd was sensing something spectacular, well the spectacular did happen, they won the game but could not win the tie. But for Galatasaray that win is as good as progressing. They will certainly be back in the competition next time around, and perhaps be more stronger than they are.
From how things panned out yesterday, Barcelona and Bayern Munich should realize that nothing can be taken for granted and cometh the biggest stage, unlikely heroes can occur, so they need to put their ties to bed and look forward to a semifinal clash where possibly both will face each other.
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