On This Day: Bayern wrecked Barca 4-0 in UCL; Messi sent his regards vs Madrid

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (April 23rd) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers

On this day in 2013, Bayern beat Barcelona 4-0 in UCL semi-final 1st leg

Bayern Munich cemented their status as the growing power in European football by ruthlessly dismantling favourites Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final first leg.

This was Barca's worst defeat in Europe since they were beaten by the same scoreline by Dynamo Kiev in 1997.

Thomas Mueller gave Bayern an early lead and their superiority was confirmed when Mario Gomez added a second just after half-time.

Arjen Robben tormented a desperately vulnerable Barcelona defence, adding a third before Mueller got his second near the end to surely put this tie out of even Barcelona's reach.

On this day in 2017, Messi celebrated his 500th Barca goal in iconic style vs Madrid

Barcelona fans loved what Lionel Messi did in the 92nd minute of Sunday's El Clasico vs. Real Madrid. He scored the winning goal in the 3-2 win over Real Madrid, and it was his 500th career goal for the club.

But some probably like what he did after that even more. Messi celebrated by running to the corner, taking off his jersey and showing the fans his name on the back with his confident, yet angry look.

Naughty, naughty. Talk about rubbing it in. Messi let Real Madrid have it, both in regulation and during the celebration. 

On this day in 2003, Ronaldo Nazario's hat-trick wrecked Man Utd's UCL dreams

Ronaldo single-handedly wrecked Manchester United's Champions League dreams with a virtuoso display at Old Trafford.

Real Madrid's Brazilian superstar scored a stunning hat-trick to destroy United's ambition of reaching the final on home soil in May.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men won a match liberally sprinkled with sparkling attacking football - but Real went through as United's defensive deficiencies were cruelly exposed again.

On this day in 1991, Van Der Sar made his debut at Ajax

He started his senior career at Ajax and is considered to be a member of a golden generation of players at the club. He remained there for nine years before moving to Juventus and then to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United. He is one of the few footballers to have won the Champions League with two different teams – with Ajax in 1995 and Manchester United in 2008; Van der Sar also won the UEFA Cup with Ajax in 1992.

Regarded as one of the greatest and most complete keepers in football history, Van der Sar was a large, athletic, yet slender goalkeeper, who excelled at coming off his line to handle crosses due to his height and physique; an intelligent goalkeeper, in addition to his reflexes, excellent positional sense, and shot-stopping abilities, he was also known for his calm composure, longevity, and his ability to organise his defence.

On this day in 1904, Manchester City won their first major trophy

Manchester City were making their first appearance in the final, while Bolton had been there before, losing to Notts County 4-1 in 1894. But City were the favorites for the 1904 clash, as they were sitting at the top of the First Division table, while Bolton occupied the seventh position in Division Two.

Over 60,000 people filled the stands at London's Crystal Palace for the match and watched as the two teams played a balanced game for the first twenty minutes. But in the 23rd minute, City forward Billy Meredith collected a pass from his teammate George Livingstone and beat Bolton keeper Dai Davies with a dribble to put the ball into an open net.

Bolton enjoyed the better part of possession throughout the second half, but could not get the ball past City keeper Jack Hillman and lost, 1-0.

On this day in 1945, Bayern won the last recorded match in the Third Reich

When Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party came to power in 1933, the new regime quickly expanded its control into all areas of German society, including football. The Nazis appointed party member Hans von Tschammer und Osten as the country's Reichssportsführer, placing him in charge of all German sports, including the nation's football teams.

As part of the new Third Reich, the football clubs were required to purge all Jews from their ranks. Thus, in 1933, Bayern's Jewish president, Kurt Landauer, was forced to resign. He later spent two months in a concentration camp, but escaped Germany in 1939 and fled to Switzerland. In 1940, Bayern visited Landauer in Switzerland as a show of support. He returned to Bayern in 1947. Between 1913 and 1951, he spent approximately 18 years as Bayern's president, giving him the club's longest tenure in that office. There is a street named after him in the Munich suburb of Friemann.

On 2 May 1945, nine days after Bayern's victory over 1860 Munich, Germany unconditionally surrendered, officially ending the Third Reich.