By JOHN BOSCHINI
The clock struck midnight and Cinderella's carriage turned back into a pumpkin as Bayern Munich ran rampant over FC Basel, winning 7-0 on the night and 7-1 on aggregate.
Mario Gomez scored four goals for Bayern to take his goal tally to 34 on the season and record his 11th hat trick since December of 2010. Arjen Robben was phenomenal for the German side, opening and closing the scoring and assisting on the second goal.
At the San Siro, Marseille snatched a last-gasp goal to advance at the expense of Inter Milan. Diego Milito's opener and Giampaolo Pazzini's last-kick penalty mattered little as Marseille advance via away goals. Brandao scored two minutes into stoppage time to shock the Italian giants. It was a game with very little offense through the first 70 minutes before exploding into life.
Here is a look back at both results from the Champions League.
Bayern Munich were off to a flying start at home and could have been out of sight by the 20-minute mark. Robben forced Yaan Sommer into a great save five minutes into the game but there was nothing the Swiss goalkeeper could do about the opener when Robben stole the ball off a Basel defender and slotted it home in the 10th minute. Sommer kept the deficit at one goal minutes later with a double save on Mario Gomez.
Basel calmed down and began to control more of the game as the first half wore on but Bayern moved into the aggregate lead just before halftime. Robben swung a cross in from the right side and Thomas Muller finished coolly from close range. The game was put beyond all doubt just moments later when Holger Badstuber's ball across the face of goal was buried by Gomez.
Gomez made it four with a left-footed shot with a defender draped all over him. Ribery did well to find the streaking German with a nifty move past Markus Steinhofer. Gomez completed his hat trick on the hour mark as he headed home yet another Ribery cross. Ribery also assisted on the fourth goal when he found Gomez in the middle of the box and the striker's left-footed strike found the top corner.
Robben made it seven when Bastian Schweinsteiger found the streaking Dutchman in the 81st minute and the finish was clinical.
Both sides wasted chances in the early stages of Inter's defeat to Marseille. Wesley Sneijder missed a golden opportunity when his powerful shot from only six yards out took a deflection before being saved by Steve Mandanda. Marseille didn't have many other chances of note and Diego Forlan's off-target header in the closing stages was Inter's only other chance of the opening 45 minutes.
Marseille came closest to taking a decisive lead in the second half. Souleymane Diawara forced a diving save from Julio Cesar in the 71st minute. However, it was some shambolic defending by the French side that lead to Inter's breakthrough. Sneijder's corner wasn't cleared and Milito stabbed it home from just six yards out. Cambiasso should have won it for Inter late on but his header just in front of goal was off-target.
Marseille's equalizer came very much against the run of play. A simple long ball up the middle wasn't cleared by Inter's defense and Brandao fired a shot past Cesar. Mandanda was sent off for bringing down Pazzini and the Italian converted the spot kick but it turned out to be a consolation goal.
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What did you think of today's results? Impressed with Bayern's dominant display? Are you happy that Basel made it this far or disappointed they couldn't pull off the upset? Shocked by Inter's early exit?
Share your thoughts below.
While watching the match, it appeared Basel had an entire midfield of defensive players, and were totally unable to keep possession; and by the break they had curled into the fetal position and resolved to immediately passing backwards every time any of them had the ball… Sommer was wholly alone on pretty much every break, as the defenders were busy pushing up midfield so SOMEONE could pass the ball forward.
Makes me wonder if this was a personnel issue, or a lineup (coach) blunder?
Or was I just watching the game after too much wine?
Or maybe just being facetious about the fact that Bayern have scored fourteen goals in the past two matches. Don’t be the Literal Larry to my Debbie Downer.
Is Jamie Z. actually Jamie Trecker, or the Debby Downer of the soccer world?
So robben,gomez,muller and ribery dont cut it for you? I think they need a leader more then anything, some one to call for the pass or scream for an attack.
The problem with Bayern lately is that you just don’t know where the goals are going to come from. Defense is important and it’s okay to start from the back, but you need to have a certain cutting edge in front of the goal. I’m just not seeing enough from them in that regard. They need to resolve to be more ruthless.