It took just twenty minutes for a sublime Barcelona side to dispatch Stuttgart tonight at Camp Nou, with the charge led by the world’s best player, Lionel Messi.
Scoring the first, creating the second, and nailing the third the Argentine ravaged Stuttgart’s back line and led his team to a 4-0 quarterfinal berth (5-1 agg.) as the defending champions seek to become first team in the modern era to retain their crown.
In France, Bordeaux jumped out to an early lead thanks to Yohann Gourcuff but needed a bit of luck to eke out a 2-1 win (3-1 agg.) against a weak Olympiakos side.
Gourcuff’s goal in the fourth minute seemed to pace the French, but a wild second half saw men ejected from both teams and an unlikely fightback from the Greeks. Only a late goal by Maroune Chamakh saved the day for a clearly superior French side.
With tonight’s results, the quarterfinal field is set. Barcelona and Bordeaux join English sides Arsenal and Manchester United, Russians CSKA Moscow, Italians Inter Milan, Germans Bayern Munich and French side Lyon.
The quarterfinal games kick off March 30th, and the draw for both this round and the semifinals will be held Friday. Teams do not get country protection, meaning the two French teams — or the two English squads — could be placed opposite one another.
Barcelona rolled to victory over an outclassed and outpaced Stuttgart side with such flair and ease it is difficult to imagine any one keeping this side from a date at Madrid in May. Led, as usual, by the play of Messi and the creativity of Andres Iniesta, the champs smashed right through the Germans’ defense and forced 'keeper Jens Lehmann to play more shots than he was comfortable with.
Don't blame George Niedermeier or Matthieu Delpierre in the middle — they were joined at times by two or three other teammates only to find that you need a net and a trident to stop Messi. The man simply carves out more space than should be humanly possible, and both his goals blazed through traffic to cleanly beat a frustrated, helpless Lehmann.
Messi’s opener, only 13 minutes in, was an example of how hard it is to defend against a man who can literally score from anywhere on the pitch. This one was left-footed rocket from the edge of the area created simply out of will and gumption.
Messi collected the ball and ran right at Stuttgart’s defense, which collapsed around him … only to watch the ball blazing past them, past their 'keeper, and nearly through the netting into the stands. It was classic Messi, his 30th of the year and seventh in four games to that point, and a dagger to boot.
Nine minutes later, Messi calmly flipped a ball over the back line to a waiting Yaya Toure, who drew Lehmann toward him desperately, only to watch as the Ivorian tapped the ball square to a waiting Pedro Rodriguez. Messi would get No. 31 at the hour mark — another dizzying bit of conjuring that saw four Stuttgart players flailing — but the game was well over at that point.
For the Germans, another shot at making the quarters, a place they have never been, went begging. For Barcelona, this was a coronation, not a contest, and it bodes well for Barcelona’s ambitions. Barcelona was able to stroll about at half speed for a good hour, and you would have thought Stuttgart had given up. They hadn’t — Barcelona are simply that much better.
Did Barcelona even need to play defense? Not really. Dani Alves and Carles Puyol took the field, but really didn’t have to do anything, and while Stuttgart apparently did take a shot (1). Victor Valdes could have been replaced by a wooden Indian.
And Stuttgart? Well, one would say better luck next year, but they likely will not be here. They are mired in ninth in the Bundesliga.
Justice was done Wednesday night in the Stade Chaban-Delmas. The better team was Bordeaux, but only a fast start and a needed fast finish saved them from potential embarrassment. Despite clear superiority they almost came undone in a strange second half.
Yoann Gourcuff scored just five minutes into the second leg, angling a free kick over the out-of-position Antonis Nikopolidis but it didn't start a rout nor make it simple for the winners.
It was the sixth time that the French had scored off a set piece in this fine Champions League run and even if there will be some doubt over whether the scorer was shooting or merely trying to target a runner at the far, back post hardly matters.
No matter the intent, it was a ball which could - probably should - have been saved and when it wound up in the back of the net seemed to say that the tie would be effectively finished without a trace of drama.
The Greeks, who had come to France as the longest of longshots, now knew they would need at least two away goals to survive the night so they did try to go forward, but that early goal probably had Bordeaux supporters thinking of the quaterfinal draw before they had even settled down for the night's entertainment.
Later, they had plenty of time to squirm as the prize almost eluded them because of their side's failure to translate superiority into more than that single goal.
For the first hour Jaouad Zairi was the most active and creative for Olympiakos, but he lacked the supporting cast on a side which never looked much more than workmanlike and refused to throw attackers forward. They had emerged from perhaps the weakest group in the first stage and seemed unable to raise their game over these two legs, content to absorb and counter.
Bordeaux never hit the form which they had showcased in their own group run past the likes of Bayern Munich and Juventus, so had only themselves to blame when things weren't over and done with early in this return game.
In fact the pace was slower than your average league match, hardly the stuff that has made the Champions League must-see football in recent years. The blame was equal - Bordeaux didn't appear to need to be special and Olympiakos wasn't going to gamble. That led to too much walking-pace stuff, the French content to construct quietly in the space provided, the Greeks unwilling to get numbers forward with any consistency.
Before the interval Gourcuff created two more chances, one denied by Nikopolidis quite well, the crossbar saving the veteran Greek 'keeper on the other. Zairi had one flash wide of the Bordeaux post, while just on halftime Ieraklis Stoltidis deflected one into the French net, but he was offside by a step. Those were what passed for the action in an otherwise pedestrian first 45 minutes.
Olympiakos stayed with their defense-first approach for the second half and appeared finished when, in the 59th minute, Matt Derbyshire hacked down Jaroslav Plasil just minutes after being booked for silly dissent. The second yellow added up to red for the Englishman and left the Greeks with 10 men.
But then this match of little quality suddenly became tense and dramatic.
When Zairi was replaced just three minutes later the Greeks got a lifeline against the odds. Kostas Mitroglu - the substitute - hammered one home when Michael Ciani got caught wrong-footed on the edge of the box. Olympiakos now had a chance. Mitroglu, surprisingly kept on the bench at the start, volleyed home from 18 yards, this goal meaning that another Olympiakos goal would qualify them on the away goals rule.
The turn of events became more shocking at the 69th minute when Diarra joined Derbyshire in the red card club and both sides were left with 10 with plenty of time for Olympiakos to finally open their game up. Bordeaux, so much in control, now started to look shaky.
The Greeks had two good chances to steal the tie before Marouane Chamakh finally clinched it with a powerful header getting on the end of a swinging cross from the left wing that again caught Nikipolidis in the wrong place. Benoit Tremoulinas delivered the 88th minute ball that had the Olympiakos 'keeper flailing as Chamakh leapt over a lone defender and placed the ball under the crossbar.
Game, set and match finally to Bordeaux, but much harder than it should have been. Gourcuff was the man of the match for Bordeaux and not just because of the early goal. He constantly popped up in troublesome spots and was never kept under control by the Greeks.
Important as a spot in Friday's quarterfinal draw is for Bordeaux, the more pertinent question may be how much this latest success for Laurent Blanc's team makes it even more likely that both the boss and his star striker will be working somewhere else next season. Blanc must be on the short list to take over the French national team after South Africa, while Chamakh can put down Prem roots wherever he chooses.
Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the Champions League and European football.
