Bayern batters City in Champions League
Franck Ribery opened the scoring for Bayern Munich in its victory at Manchester City.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Bayern Munich cruises to victory over Manchester City
- Manchester United held in Ukraine by Shakhtar Donetsk
- Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain both triumph
- Juventus held at home by Galatasaray
Robben could have been
forgiven for expecting more of a challenge from one of the most
expensively assembled teams in European football.
But the Dutchman will not
lose too much sleep over the way Manchester City capitulated against a
Bayern Munich which simply oozed class.
Bayern, which won the European Champions League last year, claimed a 3-1 win -- a result which flattered City for the most part.
"The first 70 minutes we played some terrific football," Robben told Sky Sports.
"We were so dominant against a big team in Europe. We didn't expect an easy game like that.
"It is a compliment to
our team but we expected more from City. We didn't give them any space,
we pressed them right up to the goalkeeper and they just kicked it away.
Sometimes they gave us too much space and we used space well."
City's disastrous flirtation with the Champions League was supposed to end with the arrival of new manager Manuel Pellegrini.
It has failed to make it past the group stage in its two previous attempts and it faces a challenge once more.
Make no mistake about it -- if this was a boxing contest then the referee would have brought this bout to a halt at halftime.
Bayern, which is highly
fancied to successfully defend its title this year, produced a level of
performance which City could only dream of.
From the moment Franck Ribery's drive somehow flew through the grasp of City's goalkeeper Joe Hart, Bayern was rampant.
City, which was beaten
by Aston Villa in the Premier League at the weekend, looked off the pace
and unable to keep up with their opponent.
That Bayern managed to
score just once in the opening 45 minutes was the only surprise -- but
it soon made sure of victory with the help of some inept City defending.
Gael Clichy was the
guilty party on this occasion, failing to track the run of Thomas
Muller, who was afforded the freedom of the penalty area before firing
past the stranded Hart.
City was stunned and
Robben added a third just four minutes later after unleashing a rasping
effort which beat Hart at the near post.
To its credit,
Pellegrini's team did offer a response with substitute Alvaro Negredo
curling home a delightful effort with 11 minutes of the contest
remaining.
City sensed an unlikely
comeback with four minutes to go when Jerome Boateng was shown a
straight red card after taking out former teammate Yaya Toure.
Champions
David Silva curled the free kick against the crossbar but Bayern negotiated the final few minutes to record an emphatic victory.
"We knew they were a
really good team and they showed that. That is why they are champions,"
City defender Micah Ricahrds told Sky Sports.
"They didn't play with a
striker and there was so much movement. It felt like they had an extra
man and I wish them all the best.
"Hopefully we can now improve. We tried, there were some tired legs out there but we can do better than that."
In the group's other game, CSKA Moscow overcame Viktoria Plzen 3-2 to move level on points with City.
United
Manchester United was
forced to settle for a point in Ukraine after it squandered the
advantage to finish 1-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Danny Welbeck gave United a first half lead but the home side equalized through Taison with 14 minutes remaining.
Ryan Giggs made his
145th Champions League appearance to set a new competition record but he
failed to find a way to inspire United to victory.
"The team stood up well tonight," United boss David Moyes told Sky Sports.
"We got a good goal early doors. It looked like we would have stopped them from scoring until the goal.
"We said at half time we
had to keep the ball better. I'm disappointed we didn't pass it better.
If we got the second goal from Robin [Van Persie] we would have seen it
out."
Welbeck
United has suffered its
worst start to a Premier League season in 24 years and was beaten at
home by West Bromwich Albion last weekend.
But goalscorer Welbeck was encouraged by his side's latest display.
"In the end it was a decent result," he said.
"We got the goal early.
They then got a goal and that's the disappointing part. I don't think
many teams come here and get three points -- we would have liked to have
got three points."
Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen secured a 2-1 home win over Real Sociedad thanks to a last minute strike from Jens Hegeler.
Simon Rolfes had given the German side the lead on the stroke of halftime before Carlos Vela equalized for Sociedad.
Real
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid eased to a 4-0 win over FC Copenhagen to make it two wins out of two.
Angel Di Maria also netted twice as Real moved four points clear at the top of Group B.
That's because Juventus was held to a 2-2 draw by Galatasaray in Turin.
The home side had looked
set for victory after goals from Arturo Vidal and Fabio Quagliarella
had canceled out Didier Drogba's opener.
But Roberto Mancini's side claimed a dramatic equalizer late on when Umut Bulhut fired home.
Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice and Marquinhos grabbed the other as Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Benfica 3-0.
The French side have won
both of its opening two group games and sits three points clear of
Olympiakos in second, which won 3-0 at Anderlecht.
The night belonged to Olympiakos star Kostas Mitroglou who became the first Greek to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.
No comments:
Post a Comment