Champions League: Dramatic Bayern pack a punch

Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman (left) and Thiago Alcantara celebrate their victory over Juventus in their Champions League Round of 16 second leg match in Munich on Wednesday. Bayern scored twice in extra time to win 6-4 on aggregate. (Photo: AFP)

Bayern Munich staged a sensational comeback, scoring twice in extra time after battling back from two goals down to beat Juventus 4-2 on Wednesday and march into the Champions League last eight with a 6-4 aggregate victory.

Thiago Alcantara drilled in after 108 minutes and Kingsley Coman curled in their fourth goal as Bayern, who needed a 90th-minute equaliser from Thomas Mueller to force extra time, finished stronger to keep up their treble hopes.

In a reverse of the first leg when Juve came back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2, Bayern dug deep to score twice in the second half.

“This was a game that affects your heart rate,” said Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

“It was a very emotional game, a case of deja-vu but with a different outcome from the first leg. But it must be said that Juve are a bit unlucky to go out like that.”

It was a bitter defeat for last season’s runners-up Juve, who ran out of steam in extra time to leave domestic titles as their only potential silverware this season.

“It was a crazy game. Juve played well at the back and we let in two goals. That should never have happened,” said Bayern scorer Mueller. “Mentally it became a different game. But we said we can make it and we kept our cool.”

It was the Bianconeri who drew first blood with Frenchman Pogba capitalising on a David Alaba mistake to beat Manuel Neuer.

Spaniard Morata, however, made a 40-metre run past four Bayern players to send Cuadrado through for their second goal.

Poland striker Robert Lewandowski then launched the comeback, heading in at the far post for his eighth goal of the campaign in the 73rd minute, triggering a dramatic finale in which Mueller scored in almost identical fashion.

Substitute Thiago put Bayern ahead in extra time and Coman, on loan at Bayern from Juve, completed a memorable comeback as coach Pep Guardiola maintained his hopes of a Champions League title in his last season in Munich.

Barca’s terrific trio down Arsenal Hosts Barcelona’s dynamic attacking trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were too strong for Arsenal as all three scored in a 3-1 victory that sent the Spanish side into the quarter-finals 5-1 on aggregate.

Brazil’s Neymar opened the scoring in the first half as the home side dominated the early play, but Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny curled in an excellent finish to spark life into the visitors after the break.

Suarez, however, launched himself into the air to meet a Dani Alves cross and send a superb volley into the top corner to deflate the English side, who have now been knocked out of the tournament in the last 16 for six successive seasons.