Munich (Germany): Neymar struck twice as Barcelona reached the Champions League final by beating Bayern Munich 5-3 on aggregate in their semifinal despite losing Tuesday’s second-leg 2-3 at the Allianz Arena. Luis Enrique’s Barca survived a Bayern second-half fightback to keep alive their treble dreams as they close in on winning the Spanish league and face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final on May 30.
In contrast, Pep Guardiola’s Bayern bowed out at the last-four stage for the second year running, despite ending Barcelona’s 18-game unbeaten run. Bayern were facing what looked like an impossible task after going down 3-0 in last week’s first leg at the Camp Nou, but they were given an early glimmer of hope in the return when the unmarked Medhi Benatia headed home on seven minutes.
However, the final outcome of the tie was put beyond doubt when Luis Suarez twice set up Neymar to score for the visitors before half an hour had been played. Bayern produced a rousing second-half performance and goals from Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller allowed them to win the game on the night, but Barcelona advance to the final in Berlin on June 6, where they will face either bitter rivals Real Madrid or Juventus.
While Lionel Messi dazzled in the first leg by scoring twice and setting up Neymar in a 3-0 romp, it was the Selecao star who extinguished Bayern’s dreams and took his tally to 11 goals from 10 games.
