The era of Spanish dominance is well and truly in the past after Bayern Munich brushed aside Barcelona 3-0 in the 2^nd leg of their semi-final to clinch the tie 7-0 on aggregate and setup the first all-German Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund on May 25^th at Wembley. Barcelona were always up against it after their 1^st leg mauling and with Lionel Messi being restricted to the bench through injury their chances reduced further.

Any hopes of Bayern being slack were washed away three minutes into the 2^nd half when Arjen Robben got the crucial away goal after cutting in from the right. Gerard Pique’s own goal on 72 minutes made it 2-0 to the Germans, who added a 3^rd four minutes later through Thomas Muller. The stage is set for the Germans to shine on the continent’s biggest stage and on a personal note, Bayern have a glorious chance to make up for the disappointments of 2010 and 2012.

Barcelona’s aura of invincibility has gradually been torn down over the last 12 months and at the magnificent Allianz Arena last night Bayern Munich shattered any remaining crumbs. The Champions League semi-final 1^st leg between the two European powerhouses was one-sided as they get as a ruthless Bayern dispatched Barca 4-0 to all but seal a place in the final at Wembley. Thomas Muller was the star of the show as he grabbed a brace while Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez added the other strikes to ground the Spanish Champions-elect, who suffered their worst defeat in the competition in 16 years. The 2nd leg in a week's time will be a dead rubber in all likelihood as no team has ever recovered from a four-goal 1st leg deficit in the competition before.

Jupp Heynckes had his best eleven out on the pitch, leading the attack with Mario Gomez who received support from Muller, Robben and Frank Ribery. The formidable midfield pair of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez were more than a match for Barca’s pass-masters while Dante was a giant in the back-four alongside Philip Lahm, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba.

Manchester City’s week only got better on Sunday as they followed up that victory over Man United in the league by navigating past Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero scored for City either side of the break and deservedly so as they completely dominated proceedings against a muted Chelsea. The FA Cup specialists slowly creeped into the game in the 2^nd half and halved the deficit courtesy of a stunning Demba Ba goal. But there wasn’t to be a dramatic comeback for the Blues as City held on to book their place in the final against Wigan Athletic.Rafa

Benitez sent out a strong message to his players by leaving Frank Lampard, John Terry and Fernando Torres on the bench for the semi-final, choosing to lead the line with Demba Ba instead while Ramires and Jon Obi Mikel formed the midfield partnership. The attacking triumvirate of Oscar, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata were again fielded together behind Ba while Ryan Bertrand and Cesar Azpilicueta stuck to the wings. At the back, David Luiz and Bransilav Ivanovic started in central defence ahead of Petr Cech in goal.

A night after the Champions League semi-final spots were decided, the Europa League strutted out with its posse of last-eight teams with a place in the last-four the incentive for the quarter finalists. The English had dominated proceedings thus far in the knockout stage but their reign was shattered last night, with Chelsea the last man standing from the British challenge. The Blues lost 3-2 at Rubin Kazan but went through 5-4 on aggregate.

Tottenham sadly weren’t as lucky as they were knocked out on penalties by Basle after the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate, with Emmanuel Adebayor the guilty party at the end. Newcastle couldn’t conjure up a classic comeback against Benfica as they were knocked out after being defeated 4-2 on aggregate while Fenerbahce also booked a spot in the last-four after beating Lazio 3-1 on aggregate.

Rubin Kazan 3-2 Chelsea (Agg 4-5)

German veteran Tommy Haas is one of the lesser known members of 17 time Major winner Roger Federer’s ‘lost generation’ of tennis players that includes the likes of Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt. Players that could have won many more titles and majors had it not been for Federer’s great rise to the top and 5 year reign as world no.1. Roddick, Safin and Hewitt have a few slams to their credit and also a world no.1 ranking. Haas, on the other hand, who was up there with the Swiss Maestro as far as talent was concerned was never able to live up to the promise he once showed, even though he did manage to reach the world no.2 position and a couple of semi-final appearances at the Grand Slams.

2012 was the year where he made a comeback to the tour with a victory in Halle (against Federer) and jumped 184 places to get back into the top 20. With his defeat of world no.1 Novak Djokovic and 11th seed Giles Simon in quick succession in straight sets, the 34 year old German, became the feel good story of the Miami Masters. Could he, after all these years, manage to pull off something special and win the Sony Open?

The FA Cup draws this season have not failed to disappoint one bit, and last night's Semi-final draw was no exception. Defending Champions Chelsea produced an exceptional fightback against Manchester United at Old Trafford to earn a replay in the late kick-off on Sunday evening, only to learn that the winner of their tie will take on the 2011 FA Cup winners Manchester City in the semi-finals.

In the other half of that rather expensively assembled section of the draw are three sides who would look at the draw now and gasp at what is an excellent opportunity to make it to an FA Cup Final. Wigan, who shocked Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park yesterday, will take on the winner of the Blackburn - Milwall replay after their quarter-final tie today finished goal-less at The Den.

Defending Champions Spain have sealed a place in the finals of the European Championships after they overcame their Iberian rivals Portugal 4-2 on penalties after the semi-final tie at the Donbass Arena finished 0-0. Cesc Fabregas scored the decisive penalty to shoot a dagger through Portuguese hearts as Spain made it through to the final despite playing well below their usual level. Xabi Alonso and Joao Moutinho missed the first two spotkicks as the keepers reigned supreme but Bruno Alves was left to rue his miscued effort as that proved to be the difference in the end.

Paulo Bento got his tactics spot on as the Portuguese pushed high up the pitch and worked tirelessly off the ball to prevent Spain from playing their usual tiki-taka football. But the sheer lack of goalmouth action apart from a few long-range efforts from both sides made for a dull night of action despite the high intensity.