When Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund thumped Barcelona and Real Madrid in 2013
This week’s UEFA Champions League has delivered Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid and Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona on back-to-back nights, and if that sounds familiar, it’s for good reason.
The new league phase has given us some interesting ties so far, but none quite on the level of Bayern against Barca, both six-time European champions who top their respective leagues as two of the form teams on the continent.
Before that, though, we have a tantalising repeat of last season’s final on Tuesday as free-scoring Borussia Dortmund face a Real Madrid side struggling to impress in Europe so far this term.
Both ties bring back clear memories, whether it be BVB’s defeat to Los Blancos months ago in the 2024 final, or Bayern’s momentous 8-2 win over Barca in 2020. However, it was in 2013 when the Bundesliga truly taught La Liga a lesson.
German football was in a new golden era thanks to Jürgen Klopp leading Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles. Little did his high-flying side know that Bayern were about to strike back in emphatic fashion with 11 straight championships.
Both teams had made their way to the 2013 semi-finals with Dortmund taking down Shakhtar Donetsk and Malaga, while Bayern went past Arsenal and Juvenuts, but things were supposed to get much harder in the final four.
Awaiting the Klassiker rivals were their Clasico counterparts - Real Madrid and Barcelona, two titans of the sport with all-time greats Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at their very peak.
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The Catalans had won three of the past seven Champions League crowns on offer, while Madrid were about to take four of the next five. In the dugout things were similarly elite. Jose Mourinho was still at the wheel in the capital, but Pep Guardiola’s replacement at Barca, Tito Vilanova, was just about to continue the tradition of downing the Portuguese for another league title.
The history and form books suggested this was the four best teams on the planet fighting for a place in the final, and given a number of aforementioned factors, combined with no German winner since 2001, both Spanish sides were seen as favourites.
However, when Barcelona rolled into the Allianz Arena on April 23, it quickly became clear that the Bundesliga was ready to make a statement.
The hosts would fly out the blocks with Arjen Robben and Philipp Lahm causing hell down the right hand side, and Victor Valdes in the Barca goal was all over the place as he was bombarded with balls into the box.
Barcelona were hanging on for their lives, and in the 25th minute Thomas Müller broke the deadlock, bundling in a Dante knockdown. More chaos would come in the 49th minute when Mario Gómez made it two during another penalty box scrap, and then Robben had a well-earned third before Muller completed the incredible 4-0 humiliation.
There were no excuses post-match, with Xavi saying: "They were superior, they were better, and stronger physically. They made the most of their chances," while Gerard Pique simply added: “They were better than us, and we have to congratulate them."
It appeared that Bayern there would be absolutely nothing stopping Bayern from being the story of the week in world football, but that was only until one of their future legends had his say.
The following night the Champions League TV crews stayed in Germany, but made the 400-mile trip up to the Ruhr where Dortmund may have felt like a bit of a sideshow as they hosted Madrid.
The expectation was that both teams would shut up shop to avoid a Barcelona-style humiliation, but once again it was gegenpressing that outdid tika-taka, and it happened even more quickly this time.
With just seven minutes on the clock Robert Lewandowski had poked in a Mario Götze cross, and while Ronaldo equalised to keep things level at half-time, they’d soon befall a similar fate to their fiercest of rivals.
Shooting towards the Yellow Wall, Lewandowski would make the most of an overhit Marco Reus pass, swivelling and turning in to make it 2-1 in the 50th minute. Five minutes later, he did the same with an overly-ambitious Marcel Schmelzer smash across the box and Madrid were on the ropes.
The game was won, but then the tie was as good as over soon after when Sergio Ramos bundled over Reus for a penalty, and with his boots still on fire, it was no surprise to see Lewandowski step up and blast in a fourth in a 4-1 trouncing.
Similarly as effusive as his Barca counterparts, Mourinho commented post-match: “They were the best team by far, they were stronger, they were more aggressive physically and mentally so they deserved it. When I lose and I don’t deserve to lose it’s a drama, when I lose and I deserve to lose, it’s a situation I accept.”
Lewandowski became the first player to score four goals in the Champions League semi-final, and they’d all prove crucial as Madrid won 2-0 back at the Bernabeu leaving them just one goal short of denying Dortmund's progress to the final.
Bayern, meanwhile, completed the job in more convincing fashion, winning 3-0 at Camp Nou to take a 7-0 aggregate win over Barca into the Champions League final where they downed Dortmund at Wembley.
Victory would cap off a European treble for Bayern, the first for a European side, breaking Dortmund hearts in the process as they finished runners-up in two of those competitions.
It may have been defeat for Klopp’s BVB, but overall their march through the Champions League was a clear win for the Bundesliga, which will again look to signal a new golden era in the 2024/25 tournament.
With both teams back in the semis last season, there’s little reason to suggest they couldn’t go as far this term, and with RB Leipzig champions Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart all confident of taking on the continent's best, we could again witness a tournament that makes German football the envy of Europe once more.
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