Pony

That night, the tiki-taka era ended, and the power midfield era began. 23 April 2013. Allianz Arena. Bayern vs Barcelona, Champions League semi-final first leg. Schweinsteiger No.31 with his back to camera. It looks quiet. It was the calm before Bayern broke Barcelona. On one side, prime Xavi and Iniesta. The masters of tiki-taka, World Cup and Euro winners with Spain, who controlled games by passing teams to death. On the other side, a different breed. Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez. Not artists, warriors. Big, physical midfielders whose first job was to destroy. Jupp Heynckes did not try to out-pass Barcelona. He told his double pivot to stay tight, stay central, and mark man-to-man. Schweinsteiger fronted Messi and denied him easy balls. Martinez hunted Iniesta and barely gave him time to turn. Muller and Gomez pressed Busquets, the link man. He touched the ball 57 times that night, down from 93 in the 4-0 win over Milan earlier that season. Xavi and Iniesta still kept the ball, but they were forced deep, passing sideways and backwards to Pique and Bartra. Barcelona had 66% possession, but Bayern had 15 shots to their 4. Then Bayern punished them with power. Muller header from a corner, Gomez, Robben after a Schweinsteiger drive, Muller again. 4-0. The second leg was worse. 1 May, Camp Nou. Messi did not even start, he stayed on the bench for 90 minutes. Bayern won 3-0 again. Xavi and Iniesta were taken off early, the tie already lost. 7-0 on aggregate. The biggest semi-final win in Champions League history. Xavi and Iniesta played chess. Schweinsteiger and Martinez flipped the board.