Barca defeat was a warning to Bayern – Robben

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Bayern's Arjen Robben
  • Post published:April 12, 2018

Arjen Robben and his Bayern Munich teammates were determined not to become this week’s latest Champions League upset story against Sevilla.

Bayern Munich had Barcelona’s Champions League collapse in mind as they closed out a semi-final place at Sevilla’s expense, according to experienced winger Arjen Robben.

A goalless draw on Wednesday at the Allianz Arena was enough to seal a semi spot for the sixth time in the past seven seasons for Bayern, who were 2-1 winners against the La Liga side last week.

Jupp Heynckes’ men join Liverpool, Roma and Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Madrid needed a controversial stoppage-time penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo to see off a phenomenal Juventus comeback, while Roma’s 3-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday saw them improbably dump out Barcelona on away goals.

‘Of course that was a warning,’ Robben told reporters. ‘It shows that everything can happen in football.

‘If you play at this level, you need a top performance. That will be the case in the semi-final.

‘We are now in the semi-finals in the Champions League and in the DFB-Pokal. We have to go a bit further.

‘In the semi-finals there are no favourites. We have to see who we get tied up with and then prepare well. There are only good teams left.’

Robben conceded it was not a vintage Bayern performance but the Bundesliga champions rarely lost control of the action.

‘From the outside, maybe 2-1 away felt as if it was almost done but we knew that they have a good team,’ he added.

‘In the first half, we had some trouble in midfield. Then they have quality and they can play.

‘They had a few chances. In the end we had more chances, but what was missing was a goal. We should have scored a goal.’

Photo: Christian Bruna/Backpagepix