FC Bayern had already reached the round of 16 of the Champions League before the last group game. A mediocre performance against Saint-Gilloise is enough. But even a sending off and a missed penalty don’t stop the Munich team. All results of the evening.
Thanks to striker Harry Kane, FC Bayern Munich reached their first goal in the Champions League ahead of schedule. After a weak first half in which the guests could have taken the lead, the Englishman led the German soccer record champions to a 2-0 (0-0) win against Belgium’s champions Royale Union Saint-Gilloise with a double strike in the 52nd and 55th minutes. It was Bayern’s 250th victory in the Champions League.
After the sixth win in the seventh preliminary round game, Bayern are already in the round of 16 before the last game next Wednesday in the Netherlands against PSV Eindhoven. Coach Vincent Kompany’s team will avoid two additional exhausting knockout games in February this season.
“We didn’t play so cleanly and quickly in the first half, but in the second half we flipped the switch and deserved to win,” said captain Manuel Neuer: “So we’re very happy with how we turned it around.”
Kane only scored with his head after a corner from Michael Olise. And then he took the penalty himself, which he confidently sank into the right corner as usual. Just eight minutes after the double strike to make it 2-0, defender Minjae Kim was shown yellow-red for repeated foul play, meaning Bayern had to hold on for the home win while they were outnumbered.
Kane actually misses a penalty
But they managed to do this routinely. They made it to the round of 16 and it was never noticeable that they had one less man on the pitch. On the contrary, the victory should have been even higher. But Kane, who was considered infallible from the spot, shot another penalty onto the crossbar (81′), Olise chased a ball over the goal from close range, completely free-standing (84′).
At the same time, Liverpool FC celebrated an important success. After the 3-0 win at Olympique Marseille, the English now have the best chance of moving straight into the round of 16. Szoboszlai (45th + 1), Rulli (72nd / own goal) and Gakpo (90th + 3) scored the goals for the team of national player Florian Wirtz, who himself played an unremarkable game.
Earlier in the evening, Eintracht Frankfurt had already lost all chances of reaching the round of 16 with a defeat in Qarabag.
All results from Wednesday
- FK Karabakh Agdam – Eintracht Frankfurt 3:2 (1:1)
- Galatasaray Istanbul – Atlético Madrid 1:1 (1:1)
- Bayern Munich – Union St. Gilloise 2:0 (0:0)
- FC Chelsea – Pafos FC 1:0 (0:0)
- Olympique Marseille – FC Liverpool 0:3 (0:1)
- Slavia Prague – FC Barcelona 2:4 (2:2)
- Atalanta Bergamo – Athletic Bilbao 2:3 (1:0)
- Juventus Turin – Benfica Lisbon 2:0 (0:0)
- Newcastle United – PSV Eindhoven 3:0 (2:0)#
To the Champions League table This way.
