League top champions

These are German football's proudest days in more than 15 years. An all-German Champions League final, Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund, was confirmed on Wednesday when Bayern overwhelmed Barcelona, most people's favourite other team, 3-0 at Camp Nou; a day after Dortmund did just enough to stave off Real Madrid, the most successful European Cup side in history, at the Bernabéu. This is a final not many would have predicted before the first-leg thrashings from the German teams; but everyone expected afterwards. And yet. What looks from afar like chest-puffing and back-slapping all around would be better described as "mixed feelings". And what is sometimes called national euphoria does in fact have strong undercurrents of divisiveness. In brief, it's a lot more complicated than it seems. As it always is. On the one hand, Germans are very proud of how the Bundesliga clubs have performed on the biggest stage of all this season. Let's not forget that Schalke came within a whisker of … [Read more...] about German fairytale in the Champions League: not the same old spiel

Get unlimited access to all Telegraph Sport for £1 a week, including our unrivalled Rugby World Cup coverage Virgil van Dijk, the Liverpool centre-back, has shrugged off any possibility of European defeat to Napoli becoming a meaningful setback in the club’s ambitions this season. The 2-0 loss in Italy means Jürgen Klopp’s side has lost its last four away fixtures in the group stage of the Champions League, and six of their last eight away ties inclusive of knockout rounds. But the defeat was Liverpool’s first competitive defeat since being beaten against Barcelona in the semi-final first leg in May. “We’ve been performing since the start of the season outstanding so there’s no reason for panic,” said Van Dijk. “The majority in the game we played well, we put them under pressure, we created opportunities on the break, there’s a lot of positive things. The only thing that is not positive is the … [Read more...] about ‘There’s no reason for panic’ – Virgil van Dijk remains his usual calm self after defeat Champions League to Napoli

"Missió Possible", Catalan television had been calling it. That, however, was before the news filtered through that Lionel Messi was not fit enough to play. From a bad start, the night then just got worse for Barcelona. Bayern were simply too refined, too strong and too expertly assembled and, over the two legs, an aggregate victory of 7-0 does not flatter them in the slightest. Their place in the final, confirming an all-German event at Wembley on 25 May, was probably assured from the moment the team-sheets were handed in, bearing in mind what has become so apparent over the last few weeks: that Barcelona without Messi can resemble an expensive toy without batteries. Even so, there was something fairly remarkable about the way Bayern comprehensively set about from where they had left off in the first leg. Barcelona's ordeal was confirmed from the moment Arjen Robben opened the scoring three minutes into the second half and what followed, first Gerard Piqué's own goal and … [Read more...] about Bayern Munich blast past Barcelona to reach Champions League final

One of the banners in the corner housing the colour-coordinated monégasques thanked Arsène Wenger for turning Monaco into an “impassable rock”. Yet it would be far too kind on Arsenal to suggest they have just been taken apart by one of Europe’s genuine superpowers. Monaco had scored only four times in six group matches. They had never won one of their foreign excursions in the knockout rounds and this was about as obliging a draw as Arsenal could possibly have hoped for. To unravel this spectacularly should be hugely disturbing for a club with their ambitions. Arsenal were painfully naive. It is far from the first time these shortcomings have been exposed but it is still shocking to see the side being picked off so easily and how susceptible they were to the counterattack. Olivier Giroud chose a bad night to have one of his least distinguished matches in Arsenal’s colours. Per Mertesacker suffered his own personal ordeal and, in terms of organisation … [Read more...] about Arsenal made to pay by Monaco in Champions League disaster for Wenger

ROSS BARKLEY will remember it as VA-Bar. The Chelsea sub, brazenly snatching the ball off Willian five minutes from time, watched his penalty skim off the top of the woodwork. If you take the ball from a player with Willian’s experience, if you insist you will score, then you have to. Them’s the rules. Instead he lifted his looping effort on to the bar after a VAR check confirmed Fikayo Tomori’s header had hit the hand of Daniel Wass.Chelsea were a goal down, trying to claw their way back into this Group H opener after Rodrigo’s clever winner 74 minutes in. They played like newbies, novices on the biggest stage European football can offer. They looked like a Europa League team. One game in and already Lamps has it all to do to make it through to the last 16.Rodrigo’s 74th minute goal, cleverly steered beyond Kepa after losing Chelsea’s defence, has made sure of that. Ajax’s 3-0 victory over Lille, plus Valencia’s shock win here, has given … [Read more...] about Chelsea 0 Valencia 1: Late Barkley penalty miss denies Blues in Lampard’s first Champions League game as boss