As soon as the final whistle went at the Allianz Arena and Bayern Munich began celebrating their emphatic 4-0 win over Barcelona, the knives were already being sharpened and journalists were declaring that we were witnessing the end of an era. Spanish football, both at national and international level, has been leading the way over the last five years and ‘tiki taka’ had become a recognised style of play idolised by the rest of the football world. Could one game change all the believers into thinking that German football was now number one?
Quite simply, no, although it was a wakeup call to those that thought Barca were on another level to the rest of European elite. Torn apart with frequency by bursting runs forward from the potent attacking threat of Robben, Ribery, Muller and Schweinsteiger, the makeshift defence had no answers for the problems that they were confronted with. Despite several dubious goals, including an offside effort by Mario Gomez and a blatant foul on Jordi Alba just seconds before Arjen Robben scored, there was no question that the Germans deserved the win.
The following day saw the second semi-final between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to address the thumping taken by Spanish football the night before. However, Jose Mourinho and the rest of the world were in for a shock as Robert Lewandowski bagged four goals and Jurgen Klopp’s team ran out 4-1 winners. Two days, two wins for German football, with eight goals scored and only one conceded.
Whilst Spain’s big two were left to lick their wounds as they headed back home, a sudden realisation that the Bundesliga has been on the rise over the past few seasons seemed to come into clear focus. It is still only half time in the Champions League semi-finals and it is certainly possible that both teams can turn around their deficits. Although Barcelona have a more difficult task than Madrid, due to their inability to score an away goal, Messi and company were deeply affected by the result and are proud of their reputation. They will be doing everything in their power to make sure that the world knows that Spain is still at the top of the game.