GreenBkk FCB | Bayern Munich v FC Basel 3-0

Bayern Munich v FC Basel 3-0

Two for Ribery in morale-boosting victory

Bayern extended their winning run at home in the Champions League to seven games, and also equalled Borussia Dortmund’s German record of five wins at the group stage, with a convincing 3-0 win over Swiss champions Basel on Wednesday. The Bavarians might in fact have won by more, although that would have been a touch harsh on the visitors, who fought their corner gamely for long periods.

The 66,000 capacity crowd at the Allianz Arena saw an entertaining first period in which the Swiss side held their own for half an hour, but the underdogs were punished for a couple of glaring misses by a Franck Ribery and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk double whammy before half-time. Ribery made it three early in the second half, and although the pace dropped after that, there were still plenty of chances at both ends to provide good value for the spectators.

Bayern were already assured of first place in Group E before kick-off, and have finished the stage with 15 points from their six matches. AS Roma also progress to the last sixteen in second spot, with Basel entering the Europa League after Christmas, and CFR Cluj’s involvement in European competition ending for this season. The Bavarians are in action again this Saturday at home to struggling St Pauli on Bundesliga Matchday 16.

Little more than pride and a win bonus were at stake for last season’s finalists, but Louis van Gaal indicated his intention to go for the win by making only one change to the side beaten by Schalke last time out. Reserve keeper Thomas Kraft came in for his second senior appearance – his first was the away defeat to Roma a couple of weeks back – with Jörg Butt starting on the bench.

Tymoshchuk again partnered Breno in central defence, with captain Mark van Bommel in defensive midfield alongside Toni Kroos. Bastian Schweinsteiger was the fulcrum of an attacking quartet with Ribery and Thomas Müller out wide, and Mario Gomez at centre-forward.

For the visitors, coached by former Munich stalwart Thorsten Fink and not actually out of the running for a place in the last sixteen when the game kicked off, hopes rested on former Bundesliga strike pair Alexander Frei and Marco Streller, the former with two goals and the latter with all three assists in a 3-1 Swiss league success against Berne at the weekend.

Once Swedish referee Martin Hansson whistled play underway on a freezing winter night in Bavaria, the visitors showed the greater urgency at the start, and Kraft was soon called upon to show off his talent with a good reaction save from Xherdan Shaqiri. But the home side, while never really firing on all cylinders, posed the greater threat in the following spell, with two dangerous Philipp Lahm crosses finding no takers, and Kroos and Van Bommel both cracking decent long-range efforts narrowly wide of the target.

Out of the blue, the Swiss champions enjoyed a purple patch on the half-hour, Frei drawing another good stop out of Kraft, before the young goalie excelled himself to deny Streller after the striker raced clear onto Shaqiri’s defence-splitting through ball.

The let-off patently shook the Bavarians awake, and Van Gaal’s men punished Basel for their profligacy with a devastating salvo of two goals in as many minutes. Ribery opened the scoring on 35 minutes with a shot threaded through a forest of Swiss limbs, but the credit for the goal belonged to left-back Diego Contento, showing huge determination to keep a ball in play which the Basel defence had given up as dead, and cutting back beyond the grasp of keeper Franco Costanzo for Ribery to take aim and score.

Basel were still reeling when Kroos arrowed a 37th-minute corner to the near post, where Gomez flicked goalwards and Tymoshchuk volleyed over the line from point-blank range. The visitors were clearly rattled and the Bundesliga giants briefly threatened to run riot, but Kroos shot wide, Ribery was guilty of wasting a gilt-edged opportunity after a superb Gomez break, and Schweinsteiger’s goalbound drive was deflected away to safety.

However, the Swiss rearguard was breached again just five minutes after the restart, and it was again Ribery who netted, this time after a trademark dash down the inside-right channel and cut-back by Müller. Kraft fisted clear under pressure from Frei, but the traffic was mainly headed in one direction now, and Costanzo did very well indeed with a double reaction save to prevent either Ribery or Schweinsteiger extending the lead.

The Basel keeper thwarted Schweinsteiger twice more, before Hamit Altintop replaced Kroos for the last quarter of the game. The German champions shifted down a gear now and indeed lived dangerously for a spell, but sub Federico Almerares whacked a highly presentable chance into the crowd.

The home side picked up the tempo again for the closing stages, but Costanzo again proved his worth with good saves from Van Bommel and Gomez, Altintop was unable to keep down a drive which might have handed him a goal on his 28th birthday, and the clutch of half-chances at either end failed to produce another goal before the final whistle.

Live match report for fcbayern.de by Chris Hamley

MATCH STATS

Bayern Munich - FC Basel 3-0 (H-T: 2-0)

Bayern Munich Kraft - Lahm, Breno, Timoschtschuk, Contento - Van Bommel, Kroos (Altintop 68) - Müller, Schweinsteiger, Ribéry - Gomez

Substitutes: Butt, Braafheid, Van Buyten, Demichelis, Ottl, Alaba

FC Basel Costanzo - Inkoom, Ferati, Abraham, Safari - Shaqiri (Tembo 76), Yapi, Cabral (Almerares 55), Stocker - Streller (Xhaka 46), Frei

Referee: Martin Hansson (Sweden)

Spectators 66,000 (capacity)

Goals: 1-0 Ribéry (35), 2-0 Tymoshchuk (37), 3-0 Ribéry (50),

Yellow Cards: Gomez / Frei

Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)