The discourse between Bayern Munich and Barcelona ahead of their much hyped Champions League Semifinal has not exactly crossed into a war of words, but it has definitely not been lacking for material.
Gareth Bale’s performance during Real Madrid’s loss to Juventus in the Champions League did him no favors in the seemingly never ending struggle to quite his critics. Although, according to his agent, Jonathan Barnett, that might be a struggle that everyone but Bale is concerned with.
Gareth Bale against Juventus. pic.twitter.com/L1knymGakW
— Purely Football (@PurelyFootball) May 6, 2015
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has been lighting up La Liga and the Champions League recently, with clutch performances in must-win games for Real Madrid. Not only have Real Madrid players, fans and Ancelloti been praising the Mexican star but Mexico’s head coach recently described CH14 as “world-class.” Making us wonder where will world-class Chicharito slot into his plans over the summer? Will Miguel “El Piojo” Herrera unleash him at the Gold Cup? Especially with the “Dos a Cero” result against the U.S.A. still etched into the minds of Mexican fans and players.
“As I am not one to be content with sitting on the bench, I always want more."
We’re going to go ahead and file this under the “Shots Fired” category. Manuel Neuer is not messing around, and that is absolutely great news, because we are hoping for nothing less than greatness as his Bayern Munich take on Barcelona in the Champions League.
Manuel Neuer has targeted Barca’s best player in a pregame interview, saying that his side needs to show Lionel Messi “who’s boss.”
Lionel Messi has never been known to run from a challenge, and he certainly hasn’t made habit of hiding behind excuses. That disposition was on full display prior to his biggest match of the year.
The last time Messi faced Bayern Munich in a Champions League semifinal, Messi wound up on the receiving end of a 7-0 aggregate drubbing. His team was suffering from injuries then, but as he faces Bayern again, it is the German side with a laundry list of injuries.
FIFA sent this whizzing across my Twitter feed Monday morning:
Spain, Germany and Italy are all in the last four. Which country has the best #UCL semi-final pedigree? pic.twitter.com/EU3NWL0EeD
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 4, 2015
When Bayern Munich faces off against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday, it will be a clash of titans the likes of which is rarely witnessed. But, don’t expect Bayern defender Medhi Benatia to be star struck.
Benatia has recently told Kicker magazine that while he respects the Barcelona front line of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar Jr “on a personal level,” that respect won’t see the light of day during the match.
Andrea Pirlo has come out in full admiration of his compatriot, former manager, and now rival ahead of their Champions League semi-final this Tuesday. Pirlo, known as one of the classiest men in the sport, has accredited his time under Ancelotti at AC Milan as career changing, and compared Ancelotti to a father figure.
Back in October, we wrote about Rhiannon Conelley, the Texas teen that turned down $10,000 in order to meet her favorite player: Neymar Jr. Apparently turning down all of that money didn’t exactly expedite the process, because she just uploaded a video of the meeting to her YouTube account on April 30.
We are sure the anticipation was killing her.