UEFA Champions League 2011-12 Quarter finals second leg part 1




Bayern Munich advanced to the Champions League semi-finals with a 4-0 aggregate victory over Marseille.

The German giants were in pole position to progress heading into Tuesday's clash, having won the first leg 2-0 in France. And another 2-0 triumph in the return fixture saw them book their place in the last four of Europe's elite club competition.



Ivica Olic, who two years ago scored a memorable hat-trick against Lyon, scored twice for Bayern before half-time, and his goals were all the hosts needed to advance.


OM would rue their missed chances, as in the 13th minute, Olic opened the scoring.

Franck Ribery made a mazy run into the right side of the box before crossing low, and the Croatian striker stabbed home from close range.

Bayern kept up their pressure, and on 37 minutes, Olic completed his double on the counter-attack. Ribery and David Alaba exchanged passes from deep in their own half before the Austrian crossed to Olic, who again finished from close range.

Bayern face the winner of Real Madrid's tie with APOEL in the semi-finals.




Barcelona reached the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-1 quarter-final second-leg win over AC Milan on Tuesday.

Lionel Messi stole the headlines once again, with two penalties in the first half either side of an Antonio Nocerino goal bringing him up to 14 Champions League goals for the season, a record for a single campaign.

Andres Iniesta sealed the victory early in the second half, as the home side progressed to the last four for a record fifth straight year.

With a 0-0 result from the first leg under their belts, Milan knew that a scoring draw would be enough to take them through.


A blistering counterattack after only four minutes saw Messi glide into the penalty area in the blink of an eye, but his finish went straight to Christian Abbiati.

Moments later and Messi was at it again, this time poking the wrong side of the post after being put clean through by a beautiful piece of combination play from Cesc Fabregas and Dani Alves.

The Argentine sprinted clear of the Milan backline once more in the 11th minute, but initially appeared to waste the chance with a square pass to Xavi.

However, the ball was soon back at his feet, and Luca Antonini, so assured in the first leg, slid in far too rashly, conceding a penalty.

Messi made no mistake, beating Abbiati with a low shot into the left corner to score a record 13th Champions League goal of the season and 50th of his career.

Milan equalised just after half an hour. Robinho found Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the top of the box, who in turn slid in the unmarked Nocerino on the left for a low finish past Victor Valdes to put the visitors ahead on aggregate.


Messi steadied himself once more from the spot, this time sending the ball into the right corner to put the home side back in front with a 2-1 aggregate lead at the end of the first half.

The Catalans increased their advantage within eight minutes of the restart.

Iniesta was perhaps fortunate to see a block by Philippe Mexes loop into his path, but did not hesitate, and stroked home from six yards.

Barca now advance to their fifth consecutive Champions League semi-final, a tournament record, and will face the winner of the Chelsea-Benfica tie, with the first leg set for April 18.