Bayern 4-2 Juventus: Spectacular comeback, into the quarterfinals

Conceding two early goals, the German club managed to equalize in the second half's injury time, then went on to win 4-2 in extra time in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 on March 16, to advance with a 6-4 aggregate victory.

Juventus shocked the world by opening the scoring in the fifth minute, then doubling their advantage 23 minutes later.After 90 minutes, the score was still 2-1 (4-3 on aggregate) in favor of the Italian club. But at the time when everyone thought that Max Allegri's team would win the ticket to continue,Tragedy came to them again, in the most cruel way.

Bayern equalized in the first minute of stoppage time. Similar to Lewandowski's goal in the 73rd minute, the Allianz Stadium team scored again from a cross-wing header, this time through Thomas Muller. The 2-2 equalizer meant the two teams tied 4-4 on aggregate, requiring two extra periods to determine the winner. And when the mental advantage was transferred to the opponent, Juventus collapsed.

Muller scored the decisive goal, opening a turning point to save Bayern from the disaster of elimination. Photo: Bongarts.

The two players Guardiola substituted, Thiago Alcantara and Kingsley Coman, scored in turn, completing a spectacular comeback, helping Bayern win the second leg 4-2 and win 6-4 on aggregate.

That result means Juventus and coach Allegri personally cannot repeat the miracle of reaching the Champions League final last season, while Bayern continue their journey to conquer the throne that they have not reached since their 2013 coronation.

For Pep Guardiola personally, the hard-fought and dramatic victory over Juventus helped him continue to nurture his hopes of finding glory in the Champions League with the "Gray Tigers". This is something the Catalan coach has longed for but has not been able to achieve in his first two seasons in charge of Bayern, and only has the current season to realize it, before moving to England to lead Man City from this summer.

In the first leg in Torino, Bayern regretfully led 2-0 after 55 minutes of play, but let home team Juventus equalize 2-2. That scenario was almost completely repeated in the second leg yesterday, except the two teams switched roles and this time, the Italian club was the one who had to regret and pay a heavy price for the so-called "holding the gold but letting it fall".

Disadvantaged by a 2-2 draw at home in the first leg, Juventus proactively applied early pressure and were quickly rewarded with the opening goal in the fifth minute. Taking advantage of Alaba's confusion when clearing Khedira's long ball, Lichsteiner passed from the right for Paul Pogba to be there at the right time, cushioning the ball past Neuer.

Despite pushing their formation high early to find the first goal, Juventus still showed a clear defensive counter-attacking strategy in this match. Coach Allegri deployed his team in a 4-2-3-1 system, with the skillful and fast Alvaro Morata placed at the top, instead of the big but somewhat slow striker Mario Mandzukic.

After Pogba's goal, this policy was thoroughly implemented by Allegri's students. Juventus focused all their strength on the home field to defend and wait for opportunities from surprise attacks. One of those surprise attacks brought the runners-up of last season the second goal, in the 28th minute. Morata received the ball in the middle of the field, accelerated, eliminated three red shirts and then passed to Cuadrado, who handled it skillfully in the first move to eliminate Lahm, then beat Neuer with a shot into the near corner.

Allegri's tactical choices could have paid off and sent Juventus straight into the quarter-finals, had his players finished better. Trailing by two goals, Bayern rushed forward in search of an equalizer and made numerous errors, leaving plenty of space behind. As a result, Juventus had successive opportunities towards the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, but they failed to capitalize.

A smooth start but goals from Pogba (in striped shirt in photo) and Cuadrado were not enough for Juventus to advance. Photo: Bongarts.

Cuadrado could not beat Neuer in a favorable situation in the 43rd minute, Lichsteiner's rebound shot also went over the bar. Alvaro Morata was even more regretful when he missed two consecutive good chances in the 55th and 56th minutes, with one time he rushed to finish instead of passing to Hernanes in a more favorable position, and another time when he thought he had a sure shot but the ball bounced off the opponent and went out.

After narrowly escaping death, Bayern gradually regained their confidence. Guardiola's reasonable personnel and tactical adjustments also helped the home team play more coherently. He withdrew Benatia from the field, brought Bernat to guard the left wing, pulled Alaba to play as a central defender with Kimmich, and at the same time increased the speed by resting veteran Xabi Alonso, making room for Kingsley Coman.

The sweet fruit came from those changes, when Bayern successively reduced the score and then equalized 2-2 using the same method - passing the ball from the right to the players with good headers to finish. Douglas Costa and Coman respectively set up Lewandowski and Muller to score.

Allegri has impressed this season with his astonishing efficiency in his substitutions for Juventus (26 times he came off the bench and scored). His adjustments yesterday were still reasonable, considering the advantageous position that the "Old Lady" maintained until the 90th minute - increasing the combativeness with Sturaro, improving the ability to keep the ball with Pereyra, adding strength to the front line with Mandzukic. However, his plan went bankrupt when Juventus let Bayern equalize 2-2 in the first minute of injury time in the second half.

After providing three assists in Bayern's 5-0 Bundesliga thrashing of Bremen at the weekend, Coman proved his influence again as his side beat Juventus. Photo: Bongarts.

On the other side of the front line, Guardiola, on the other hand, showed great skill with changes. After Bernat and Coman brought positive changes in the second half, it was the turn of another substitute, Thiago Alcantara, to make a difference. The former Barca player entered the field in the 101st minute and scored to make it 3-2 seven minutes later, with a neat exchange with Muller before finishing accurately, leaving Buffon helpless.

This goal almost destroyed all the will to resist of Juventus and added excitement for Bayern to score another goal, closing the match. This finale was a pain for the Serie A champions, when the players they sold and loaned to their German opponents left the deepest mark. Vidal stole the ball and passed it to Coman, who skillfully defeated Buffon in the 110th minute.

According to VNE