Bayern Munich came back from a shortlived deficit to see off Manchester United and advance to the Champions League semifinals.
After 67 minutes, Manchester United were in the lead and dreaming of one of the biggest Champions League upsets ever.
One minute later, the lead was gone.
And before the final whistle blew, Bayern Munich would add two more goals as they advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 victory, 4-2 on aggregate.
Antonio Valencia nearly shocked the Allianz Arena in the 17th minute, toe poking in a cross from Wayne Rooney past Neuer.
The offside flag was up quickly though, correctly disallowing the goal.
For the rest of the first half, Manchester United seemed happy to keep nine or 10 men in their defence area, frustrating Bayern’s attack and simply not allowing them any space to operate in the attacking third.
United opened the second half looking a bit more adventurous on the attack, which makes sense as they needed a goal to avoid elimination.
Rooney was again unable or unwilling to shoot the ball after getting behind the Bayern defence on another long ball.
Admittedly, the ball took a high bounce, but rather than at least trying a volley, Roony tried a clever pass that was easily intercepted and cleared.
Then in the 57th minute, Patrice Evra scored one of the best goals of this season’s Champions League to put United up 1-0.
Valencia’s cross from the right wing found its way on two bounces to Evra who didn’t try to take a touch and instead uncorked a missile that hammered off the underside of the crossbar, silencing the crowd in Germany.
United’s elation was shortlived though as Bayern answered right back.
A quick attack down the left wing in the 59th minute created the chance as Franck Ribéry raced into space before finding Mario Mandzukić in the middle of the United box.
The Croatian striker went for a low header, beating Evra’s foot to the ball, and directing it past David De Gea to even the match at 1-1.
Bayern had the momentum and looked like a different team in the wake of the goals, but they still needed one more to avoid extra time.
Crowd favourite, Thomas Müller, stepped up and got that goal in the 68th minute, beating his man right in front of the goal, getting to a low cross from Arjen Robben, and poking it past De Gea to give the home side a 2-1 lead, 3-2 on aggregate.
With United pressing, needing one more goal, Bayern had more space to attack and Robben took full advantage in the 76th minute.
The midfielder danced by Evra, cutting inside before sending a low roller that took the slightest of deflections of Nemanja Vidic’s foot before trickling past De Gea to put the match away for Bayern.
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