Champions League
August 18, 2011
Bayern Munich got their season back on track Wednesday night with a spirit-lifting 2-0 win over FC Zurich in the UEFA Champions League playoffs.
The win pushes the club closer to the lucrative group stages of Europe's top tournament after they finished third last Bundesliga season and missed out on automatic qualification.
The Bavarian giants had been reeling off a poor start to the Bundesliga season under new coach Jupp Heynckes after losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach and barely scraping home against Wolfsburg last weekend.
Bayern would have been looking to dispel any doubts over the club's new manager with a sturdy win at home against the Swiss, who put up a decent fight against their much larger but slightly crestfallen opponents. Zurich were, however, ultimately no match for the Germans.
Bayern did well to control the ball and stifle any Zurich forward play with solid defending. In offense, Bayern's galaxy of international stars managed to maintain possession and frequently press high to pressure the Zurich box.
Early lead
All looked bright for Bayern when Bastian Schweinsteiger opened the scoring in the eighth minute after nodding home a pass from his Dutch teammate Arjen Robben.
As the half progressed, Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez both had chances on goal but scuffed their lines. Zurich should pat their keeper, Johnny Leoni, on the back after he managed to minimize damage at the back, earning post-match praise from Heynckes.
Bayern were finally rewarded when Robben hit a screamer in the 72nd minute from just inside the box on the right after Gomez played the ball back from near the by-line. The goal was emblematic of what the Dutchman can do when given too much time and space on the ball.
Robben said after the match that despite the win, Bayern were yet to hit their straps: "Two goals is good, but I was not fully satisfied with the game. I think we can do much better. We should play faster going forward and more aggressively."
Heynckes said his team began well but should have put away more chances. "In the second half we continued pushing forward and their goalkeeper pulled off a number of good saves. But in the end I think we have to be satisfied with the result."
The winners of 10 two-legged ties in the playoff phase will advance to the lucrative group stages of the Champions League. The return legs will be played next week. The final of the tournament will be played at Bayern's Allianz Arena.
Author: Darren Mara
Editor: Mark Rossman