Bayern Munich 2 Juventus 0
Bayern Munich’s bid to reach a
third Champions League final in
four years remains on track after
they earned a deserved victory
over Juventus in the first leg of
their quarter-final clash last night
at the Allianz Arena.
A goal inside the first minute from
David Alaba — who broke Irish
hearts while on international duty
with Austria last week — set
Bayern on their way and Thomas
Muller added a second just after
the hour mark as the German
giants built a healthy advantage to
take to Italy for their return leg.
Arjen Robben, who started on the
bench but was thrown into the
action after just 16 minutes due to
an injury to Toni Kroos, said he
was happy with the result.
“When we spoke about the game
before we said we couldn’t
concede a goal, that was the
important thing and in the end 2-0
at home, good advantage,” he
said.
“I think it was a very good game
to watch, because both teams were
pressing forward and it was almost
one against one all over the pitch.
“I think there was a period in the
first half, just after I came on,
where they made some mistakes
and we had some good chances. It
was just a bit unfortunate that we
didn’t score another goal,” he
continued.
Indeed, following their 9-2 mauling
of Hamburg at the weekend,
confidence was high and they
could hardly have had a better
start when Alaba picked up the
ball 30 yards from goal before
unleashing a left-footed effort
which, after clipping the end of
Arturo Vidal’s boot, swerved past
Buffon and nestled in the bottom
corner.
Juve might have felt a little
unlucky to have conceded in that
fashion but they could consider
themselves fortunate not to have
conceded more during a half that
Bayern controlled.
With their tails up, the Germans
were employing a shoot-on-sight
policy and another effort from
outside the box led to their second
in the 63rd minute.
Buffon kept out Luiz Gustavo’s
initial effort but the rebound was
picked up by Mario Mandzukic and
he laid the ball back into the
centre for Muller to tap into an
empty net.
Buffon might well have kept Juve’s
hopes of turning the tie around
alive when he produced a superb
one-handed save to deny Muller a
second in the 90th minute. Time
will tell how crucial the miss could
be.
BAYERN MUNICH: Neuer, Lahm,
Van Buyten, Dante, Alaba,
Schweinsteiger, Gustavo, Muller,
Kroos (Robben 16), Ribery (Shaqiri
90), Mandzukic (Gomez 90).
JUVENTUS: Buffon, Barzagli,
Bonucci, Chiellini, Lichtsteiner,
Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Peluso
(Pogba 75), Matri (Vucinic 65),
Quagliarella (Giovinco 65).
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
(England).
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