“Allez Allez ooh hooo, I give my heart for you, I live for Bayern.”

I can’t stop watching this goal. I know a lot of goals are called the “Best of the Year” or “Century” or “of all Time,” but…this is the goal of the year. The player who scored it, the defender that got embarrassed as it was scored, the keeper it was scored on: all the greatest in the world, on the biggest stage, from two of the top three teams on the planet. And all of that context still pales in comparison to the simple beauty of it. 

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.

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.

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. 

Bayern Munich simply cannot catch a break as news broke today via Bayern’s official twitter feed that Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben are both out with injuries. 

Arjen #Robben has a tear in his left calf muscle. His season is over.

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) April 29, 2015

Bayern Munich better be afraid, very, very afraid. While they were busy losing to their arch rivals Borussia Dortmund on penalties, their upcoming opponents in the Champions League semi-finals were off destroying Getafe in La Liga. 

Borussia Dortmund are obviously much, much better than Getafe, but the staggering part of Barcelona’s 6-0 victory over Getafe is not the fact that it came against Getafe. It is the fact that it happened at all. 

The draw for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals has been made official: Bayern Munich will face Barcelona and Real Madrid will face Juventus. Both matches will undoubtedly be thrilling to watch, but the choice of the two has to be Bayern Munich against Barcelona. 

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has shown confidence that his club will retain the services of Pep Guardiola after the Spanish manager led Bayern to a resounding 6-1 victory over FC Porto in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. 

Guardiola came to Bayern after taking time off in order to get away from the stress of coaching at the top level of football. His stint with Barcelona before this break was one of the most successful in the history of club soccer.