No miracle comeback for Barcelona this time
BARCELONA, SPAIN >> Juventus made sure there were no more miracles at Camp Nou on Wednesday, as the Italian visitors held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw and advanced to the Champions League semifinals.
The second-leg stalemate sealed a 3-0 win on aggregate and came six weeks after Barcelona’s historic 6-1 thrashing of Paris SaintGermain, when the home side become the first team to ever overturn a 4-0 loss in the competition.
Juventus showed all the poise and experience that PSG had sorely lacked in the previous round.
True to the Italian tradition of defending an advantage, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had little work to do until late in the game, as Massimiliano Allegri’s side expertly absorbed Barcelona’s highpaced passing attack that ultimately produced few good scoring opportunities.
And when Lionel Messi did get free inside the area, Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer squandered both his chances to spark a fight back. MONACO 3, DORTMUND 1 >> Rising teenage star Kylian Mbappe and resurgent forward Radamel Falcao scored early goals as free-scoring Monaco beat Borussia Dortmund to reach the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday.
Dortmund trailed 3-2 from the first leg in Germany and conceded twice inside 20 minutes — meaning it needed to score three times to have a chance. Attacking midfielder Marco Reus pulled one back in the 48th minute.
But substitute Valere Germain, just after replacing Mbappe, added the third in the 81st minute to seal a 6-3 victory on aggregate. It was Monaco’s 141st goal of an incredible season that has captured the imagination and made the rest of Europe take notice.