Champions League
Bavaria wins and Wolfsburg flees
Thomas Müller and FC Bayern Munich also had reason to celebrate against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League
© Christof Stache / AFP
In the Champions League, Bayern Munich played against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday and VfL Wolfsburg against Sevilla FC. Bayern enjoyed their game more.
After the next double from goal machine Robert Lewandowski, FC Bayern Munich storms determinedly towards the round of 16 in the Champions League. The world footballer continued his series of hits in Europe’s premier class on Wednesday in a 5-0 (2-0) win against Dynamo Kiev with a converted hand penalty (12th minute) and after a perfect pass from Thomas Müller (27th). The Pole had already scored twice in the 3-0 opener against FC Barcelona. 25,000 spectators were able to cheer for further goals by Serge Gnabry (68th), Leroy Sané (74th) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (87th) in the Munich arena.
In their first European Cup home game in front of an audience in almost two years, the vastly superior team of coach Julian Nagelsmann consolidated the leading position in Group E. “He was already satisfied for a long time,” said the head coach. “That is a big step that we are taking,” added Nagelsmann, who was particularly happy about the zero match. In three weeks, Bayern can move closer to group victory in the top game at Benfica Lisbon, which also won 3-0 against FC Barcelona.
“We did relatively well and in the end we showed our dominance again,” said the strong Sané. Leon Goretzka raved about a “nice football evening”, on which “a lot was good”.
VfL Wolfsburg – Sevilla FC 1-1
After the final whistle, an entire stadium booed and whistled: A controversial penalty kick shortly before the end of the game brought VfL Wolfsburg to their first victory in the new Champions League season. Former Schalke Ivan Rakitic scored on Wednesday evening in the 87th minute to make it 1: 1 (0: 0) for Sevilla FC. The insecure referee Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria) and his video assistant had previously checked an action by VfL professional Josuha Guilavogui, who first hit the ball and then the shin of Argentinian Erik Lamela in the penalty area. In the end, Kabakov not only gave a penalty, but also a yellow-red for Guilavogui (85th). Renato Steffen (48th) had brought Wolfsburg into the lead shortly after the break from close range.
The first Champions League home game in five and a half years triggered something in Wolfsburg. In contrast to the 2-0 win against Real Madrid in April 2016, there were only 11,733 spectators in the Volkswagen Arena due to the corona. But this often a little smiled at audience was very loud this time, it threw confetti – and in the end cursed the referee.
Crisis at FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona is still in crisis. With the 0: 3 (0: 1) defeat at Benfica Lisbon, which Darwin (3rd / 79th / penalty) and Rafa (69th) sealed, the situation for coach Ronald Koeman is becoming more and more precarious. The Catalans had already lost their first game 3-0 against FC Bayern Munich, who defeated Dynamo Kiev 5-0 (2-0) in the parallel game in Group E, and are also weak in the Spanish league. To make matters worse, Eric Garcia also saw the yellow-red card (87.)
