- Early lifelines -
Going into the game, the Spaniards knew they’d need two goals without response to progress. Inside two minutes, they almost made the job harder for themselves. Gifted a free-kick on the edge of the box, James clipped the ball over the wall, but unfortunately for the Colombian, it sailed over the bar too.
Not long later, Pablo Sarabia’s venomous strike stung Jerome Boateng’s arm and the Sevilla faithful cried out for a penalty, but the referee judged there to be no wrongdoing.
Back at the other end of the pitch, Mats Hummels almost scored the goal of his career. The German wrapped his left foot around the ball to unleash a vicious effort that whistled over David Soria’s crossbar. Had it been on target, it would’ve burned a whole in the net. Nevertheless, the goal remained intact.
A rather scrappy and tense first half saw a number of chances, but nothing clear cut. The teams went into the break goalless.
- Miss, miss, miss -
After being on the receiving end of Jupp Heynckes hairdryer at half-time, the Germans almost got off to the perfect start in the second period. Franck Ribery fed Joshua Kimmich on the overlap who dinked a delightful cross to Robert Lewandowski at the back post - bread and butter for the striker? Not quite, Bayern’s No. 9 drilled his header into the ground and, somehow, managed to miss the target.
It was then Joaquin Correa's turn to try his luck with his forehead. The Argentine beat everyone in the air to meet a deep free-kick only to see his ensuing header come crashing off the crossbar. A real heart in mouth moment for the Bayern faithful.
With time running out, Sevilla’s valiant effort dissolved into desperation and they struggled to get any attacks to materialise. Correa, refusing to go out of the competition without a bang, dealt a wicked punt to Javi Martinez that saw him sent for an early bath.
Whilst the 0-0 result won’t go down in Champions League history, an efficient German performance got the job done for Bayern Munich. Sitting on their 2-1 lead from the first-leg, Heynckes' men cruise through to the semi-finals.