FULL TIME: Bayern Munich 1-0 Benfica
And that’s that! Bayern scored early and threatened to steamroller Benfica. But the Portuguese giants grew into the game, held firm, and are right in this tie at the halfway point. In fact, they passed up a couple of great chances to grab a precious away goal, but they’ll be happy enough to have limited Bayern to their one-goal home victory. The home fans aren’t as content, though, and you get the impression they won’t be that unhappy to see the back of Pep Guardiola. The second leg in Lisbon promises to be a cracker.
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90 min +4: Eliseu takes a good 30 seconds over a different throw. Professionalism at its finest.
90 min +3: Ribery, in a tight position on the left, screws a cross-cum-shot across the face of goal and out of play on the right. Benfica don’t bother rushing to take the throw.
90 min +2: Benfica are giving Bayern the high, hard press. It’s all very scrappy in the midfield, just as the visitors like it. The clock keeps ticking.
90 min +1: Samaris comes on for Pizzi. The next four minutes are so crucial to the balance of this quarter final. Benfica will be pretty happy with their evening’s work. So far.
90 min: There will be five added minutes. Five!
89 min: Lahm and Gotze combine marvellously down the inside-right channel, opening up a bit of space. Then Vidal slides a diagonal pass towards Lewandowski, on the left of the Benfica D. He’s free on goal! Instead of shooting, he rolls the ball across for Lahm, who has kept on keeping on. But the pass is woefully overcooked, and Lahm can’t meet it. What a nonsense!
87 min: Lahm powers down the right before slipping a ball forward for Coman, who loops long, looking for Lewandowski at the far post. The ball sails harmlessly out of play for a goal kick.
85 min: Muller is replaced by 2014’s Mario Gotze.
84 min: Corner for Bayern on the right. Vidal whips it onto Lewandowski’s head. The striker batters his header over the bar from 12 yards.
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82 min: Salvio comes on for Jonas. Coman breaks down the left and feeds Lewandowski, who twists and turns but can’t get a shot away. The whistles are getting louder.
81 min: Lewandowski intercepts a weak Lindelof clearing header, and sparks an intense period of Bayern pressure. First Thiago nearly breaks into the box down the inside-left channel. Then Ribery cuts in from the left and shoots low, straight at Ederson. Then finally Bernat tries to force the ball down the inside-left channel to release Lewandowski, but the striker is caught offside, and cops the flak from the home support. Which is a bit off, seeing he set the whole thing rolling in the first place.
79 min: Ribery and Muller zip down the left wing together. They’re on the same flank, but not the same mental wavelength, because the former manages to catch the latter offside with the simplest of passes. A few whistles from the crowd.
78 min: Coman hugs the right-hand touchline and nears the corner flag, before hoicking a cross out of play on the left. That pretty much sums up Bayern’s second-half performance. The home fans don’t sound particularly made up.
75 min: It’s gone scrappy again. Benfica will be happy enough with this.
73 min: Ribery tries to inject a bit of energy into Bayern’s performance. He tears down the left, reaches the byline, and pulls one back for Lewandowski, whose attempted flick from the left-hand corner of the six-yard area is weak and straight at Ederson. Bayern were rampant for the first 20-25 minutes of this match. They’ve not been anywhere near as good since. On the touchline, Pep Guardiola has his hands in his pockets, like everything’s fine and dandy. Which it still is, but only just.
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72 min: Jonas strides down the inside-left channel and is impeded by Vidal. Free kick, 40 yards out. The ball’s floated into the area. Bayern don’t deal with it. First Gaitan takes a fresh-air swipe, then Lindelof, haring in at the far post, misses completely as well. Farcical. Bayern are playing a dangerous game here.
70 min: Both sides make a change. Douglas Costa is replaced by Kingsley Coman for Bayern, while the visitors trade Mitroglou for Raul Jimenez.
69 min: Corner for Bayern down the left. It’s sent all the way back to Lahm, 35 yards out. Lahm hoicks it into the mixer, in the 1980s English style. Jardel heads clear. Pep Guardiola, ladies and gentlemen!
67 min: Ribery rips down the left wing, lays off to Muller, who rolls a pass back to Thiago. The inventive Thiago gently floats a pass towards Vidal on the penalty spot. Vidal turns, and creams a riser straight at Ederson. The keeper tips over, and it turns out Vidal was offside anyway. But what a pass by Thiago! A lovely player.
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64 min: What an absurd miss! Andre Almedia beats Ribery to the ball down the right, and makes off into the Bayern box. His low cross finds Jonas, free, ten yards out. He blooters his shot straight into the chest of Javi Martinez, claims a penalty, then slashes a second effort over the bar from close range. Actually, that’s two absurd misses, isn’t it. Benfica should be level. Bayern have fallen right off the pace. The home side aren’t very happy, though the away fans are making an almighty racket. Marvellous.
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62 min: Lewandowski powers in from the left and threatens to break past Lindelof, who drags the striker down and is booked. All in the centre of the field, so the resulting free kick comes to nothing.
60 min: Bayern make the first change of the evening: Javi Martinez comes on for young Kimmich.
59 min: It’s been a bad couple of minutes for Jonas. He picks up a yellow for standing on Vidal’s ankle, so he’s suspended for the second leg. Actually, it’s swings and roundabouts, that, because it was a nasty looking challenge. He’s lucky not to see red. So at least he’ll see out the rest of this match. If he behaves.
57 min: Renato Sanches, cutting in from the left, chips delicately forward towards Jonas on the edge of the Bayern box. He flicks the ball round the corner, and past Alaba, for himself. He’s one on one with Neuer! But shoots straight at the keeper. What a chance to grab an away goal! Bayern go straight up the other end and nearly makes it two, Bernat gliding down the inside-left channel and sending a low diagonal shot inches wide of the right-hand post.
54 min: The busy Bernat makes space for himself down the left and scoops a cross towards Lewandowski, who can’t get a header away. The ball breaks to Douglas Costa on the right-hand corner of the box. He cuts inside and looks for the top left. But only succeeds in battering the ball straight into poor Jardel’s coupon. Jardel stands tall for a second, before collapsing backwards like a felled tree. He’s OK after a dab with the magic sponge, but there were cartoon birds circling his head for a few seconds there.
52 min: More Bayern possession. Douglas Costa and Lahm seeing an awful lot of the ball. But not doing a whole load with it. Benfica are holding their shape well now, and looking comfortable enough.
50 min: Muller, 25 yards out, plays a cute ball down the middle of the park to release Lewandowski into the Benfica box. The striker shoots straight at Ederson, and he was offside anyway. But Bayern are starting this half strongly.
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48 min: ... the ball drops to Vidal, to the right of the D. He attempts to shoot goalwards, but screws a comically awful shot away to his left, the ball landing with snooker-style check side on the left-hand corner of the box and away.
47 min: A slow start to the second period. Bayern seeing the lion’s share of possession, though it’s all in their own half. But then suddenly they launch it long down the left, Ribery winning a throw deep in Benfica territory. He takes it quickly towards Bernat, who fires low and hard towards Lewandowski at the near post. It’s bundled out for a corner. From which ...
And we're off again!
No changes. The hosts get the second half underway.
Half-time entertainment: The last time Benfica won a European pot, courtesy of British Pathé, which kind of dates it.
HALF TIME: Bayern Munich 1-0 Benfica
A long Benfica throw from the left. Mitroglou attempts to lash one home from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. It’s deflected back to Gaitan, whose drive from the penalty spot is blocked by a sliding Vidal. And that’s that for the first half. Benfica will be happy enough, having conceded so early. They looked in real trouble for a while, but held on and gained confidence towards the end of the half. Second 45 should be a cracker. No flipping! Though having said that, Barca are losing at home!
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45 min: Douglas Costa wrestles Renato Sanches to the floor from behind, a pointless scuffle. Perhaps that was clumsy rather than malicious. No yellow, though the young Benfica midfielder falls on the ball and winds himself. He’ll be OK.
44 min: This half is petering out a little. Fair’s fair, the two teams have put on a decent enough show so far. They deserve a rest.
42 min: Pizzi nutmegs Bernat down the right, and strides off down the flank. He’s dragged down by a livid, embarrassed Bernat, and that’s Bayern’s second yellow card of the evening.
40 min: Douglas Costa turns it on down the right and loops one to the far side of the box, where Ribery attempts to Mark Hughes a bicycle kick goalwards. Nope!
38 min: It’s been an entertaining, free-flowing half of football. Pizzi, out on the right, swings long towards Mitroglou on the left-hand corner of the Bayern D. Mitroglou heads down for Gaitan, who is nudged off the ball by Lahm. Benfica want a free kick, but the referee says no. Almost certainly correctly, to be fair.
36 min: So having said that, here comes another one, and it’s nearly a second for Bayern. Muller wanders down the right, seemingly with all the time in the world to curl a cross onto Vidal’s head. Which is exactly what he does, Vidal on the penalty spot. But the goalscorer heads straight down, sending the ball bouncing up and over the crossbar when it was surely easier to plant one into the net, either side of the static Ederson. (It probably wasn’t easier, was it. But you know what I mean.)
35 min: In fairness to Benfica, they’ve held firm since going behind early, after which it looked for a while like Bayern would sweep them aside. They’ve only seen 39% of the ball, but have restricted the hosts to a couple of chances.
33 min: After an awful lot of faffing, Thiago takes the free kick, chipping it gently over the wall and sending it dropping towards Muller, who has run around the left of the wall and down the left channel. He’s about to blooter home, but Ederson has read it well and comes off his line to smother. That was very nearly the most delicious assist by Thiago. Exquisite.
31 min: Ribery nips in from the left with trouble on his mind. He’s about to let rip towards goal when Fejsa comes across and clatters him to the floor. That’ll be a free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the left of the Benfica D.
29 min: Yes, they’re growing into this game all right. Gaitan is sent scampering into space down the left and enters the Bayern box. The home side are light in the middle, with Mitroglou waiting for a cross, but the low ball that’s delivered hits the hand of Lahm as he slides in to block. Gaitan hops around in the manic fashion, claiming the spot kick, but Lahm was right next to his opponent at the time, and his arm made no move towards the ball. That’d have been a harsh one. Gaitan composes himself and shifts the ball back to Renato Sanches, who scores three rugby points from 30 yards.
27 min: Benfica finally spend some time passing it around in the Bayern half. Gaitan has a look down the left; Andre Almeida has a little probe down the right. Both players deliver crosses that are easily cleared, but this is an improvement from the away side.
25 min: Bayern spend some time stroking it around the middle of the park, just because they can. A good couple of minutes for Benfica, in the sense that there’s no danger to their goal. But still.
23 min: Ribery is booked for standing on Andre Almeida’s foot in the midfield. He was late and clumsy, and can have no complaints. From the free kick, Pizzi strides into the Bayern box down the inside-right channel and fires low into the centre. Vidal stretches his leg out to concede a corner. The set piece is punched clear with great force by Neuer.
20 min: Thiago, to the left of the Benfica D, pitching wedges a glorious diagonal ball towards Muller, level with the right-hand post, ten yards out. Muller meets the dropping ball on the full, sidefooting powerfully towards the bottom right. Ederson parries brilliantly. Stunning play all round.
19 min: This is a bit better from Benfica, though. Andre Almeida makes a bit of space for himself down the right and, from a deep position, hoicks high into the Bayern box. Mitroglou rises, but he’s on the edge of the area, and though he connects well, can only send his header harmlessly wide left from distance.
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18 min: Bayern knock it around the back awhile. Eventually the ball’s looped down the right wing for Douglas Costa to chase. Eliseu shepherds the ball out of play, though if the pitch was a yard or so longer the winger had the beating of him. Right now, it’s a matter of when Bayern score again, not if.
16 min: Douglas Costa feeds Lahm down the right on the overlap. Lahm fires low towards the near post, where Lewandowski challenges Ederson for the ball on the corner of the six-yard box. The keeper bravely keeps hold of the ball, and takes a whack on his hand for his trouble.
14 min: Vidal, out on the right, swings a diagonal pass left for Ribery, who with chalk on his boots brings the ball back inside and looks for the top right from a daft distance. It’s high and wide, but if that had gone in you’d have seen it again once or twice, so hats off for ambition. You can’t create great art without going out there.
12 min: A corner for Bayern down the right. Douglas Costa and Lahm exchange quick passes. The former swings high into the box. Ederson claims. This is absurdly one-sided. Benfica may well regret not keeping up with Mitroglou in the second minute and committing men forward into the Bayern box. It’s been a mess from their point of view ever since.
10 min: Douglas Costa tears down the inside-right channel and fizzes a low shot towards the bottom right from 25 yards. It’s fierce, but gathered confidently by Ederson. Just as well, because Lewandowski - this is how he rolls - was lurking, waiting to tap in any fumbles. “Vidal so soon?” Niall Mullen, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the lager.
8 min: Benfica are panicking a bit. Ribery is causing all manner of havoc down this left wing. He nearly finds Lewandowski in the centre with a sweeping cross, then runs at Andre Almeida with extreme prejudice. Lindelof steps in to put a stop to his gallop, but the visitors can’t keep carrying on like this, or they’ll be out of this quarter-final tie before the half-hour.
5 min: Ribery again jigs about down the left, and very nearly manages to swing another cross into the danger zone. Not quite. He settles for a corner, which is easily cleared. This game is preposterously open. What happened to gentle probing in European ties?
4 min: Jonas flicks a ball down the middle of the park to release Mitroglou free on goal. Bayern were pushing up ludicrously high, but got away with that one, just. The flag goes up for offside.
GOAL! Bayern Munich 1-0 Benfica (Vidal 2)
A strange enough start, though. Mitroglou prances down the Benfica right and fires a low cross into the Bayern box. It’s a decent delivery, but there’s nobody there to take a shot on goal. Bayern clear, and Ribery dances down the left again. He feeds Lewandowski on his inside, who in turn shuttles the ball on to Bernat down the channel. Bernat stands one up to the far post, and Vidal heads home into the right-hand portion of the net with the greatest of ease from six yards!
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And we're off!
Benfica get the ball rolling. They lose the ball within five seconds, then concede a foul within ten. All in the centre circle, so it doesn’t amount to much, though it’s not the most auspicious start for the visitors. Ribery probes a bit down the left, but goes nowhere.
The teams are out! Bayern Munich are in their beautiful first-choice red, their evocative shirts positively screaming Gerd Muller. Benfica are therefore forced into their change strip of white. Never mind, it’s a classic aesthetic too. Pure pleasure. A cracking atmosphere in the stadium, despite the official Uefa anthem being parped out of the PA at a ludicrous volume. We’ll be off in a minute!
Bayern, coming off the back of a couple of narrow Bundesliga victories over Cologne and Eintracht Frankfurt, make three changes to the side that started the 1-0 victory over the latter on Saturday. Out go Javi Martinez, Xabi Alonso and Mario Gotze; in come Joshua Kimmich, Arturo Vidal and Douglas Costa.
Benfica, meanwhile, have won their last eight matches in all competitions. So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They name the same XI who started the 5-1 tonking of Braga last Friday.
The teams
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Lahm, Kimmich, Alaba, Bernat, Vidal, Douglas Costa, Muller, Thiago, Ribery, Lewandowski.
Subs: Ulreich, Javi Martinez, Rafinha, Alonso, Gotze, Rode, Coman.
Benfica: Ederson, Andre Almeida, Lindelof, Jardel, Eliseu, Pizzi, Fejsa, Sanches, Gaitan, Jonas, Mitroglou.
Subs: Paulo Lopes, Lopez, Samaris, Jimenez, Salvio, Anderson Talisca, Semedo.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).
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🎼 ♭ Die Meister ♫ Die Besten ♪ Les grandes équipes ♫ The champions ♪ ♫
Well isn’t this a pretty picture for Bayern Munich? Benfica! Bavaria’s finest have been drawn against the Portuguese giants three times in European competition. And on each and every occasion, they’ve gone on to at least reach the final of whichever pot they were playing for at the time.
First up, the 1975/76 European Champion Clubs Cup. The clubs were paired in the quarter finals, and played out a goalless draw at the Stadium of Light Estádio da Luz before Gerd Müller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge got amongst the goals in a 5-1 Bayern victory in Munich. The Germans went on to the final, where they defeated Saint-Étienne in Glasgow thanks to Franz Roth’s goal and Hampden Park’s square posts.
Six seasons later, it was a similar story in the second round. Benfica held Bayern to a goalless draw in Lisbon, before capitulating in the second leg. They lost that one 4-1, Dieter Hoeness scoring a hat-trick. Once again, Bayern reached the final, but Aston Villa’s Gary Williams prepared to venture down the left, put a good ball in for Tony Morley, it must be and it was! Peter Withe!
And finally the pair’s paths crossed again in the third round of the 1995/96 Uefa Cup. Jurgen Klinsmann scored all four for Bayern in a 4-1 home victory, then added a couple more in a 3-1 away win. Bayern went on to play Bordeaux in the final, winning 5-1 over both legs. Klinsmann with just the one there, and long after it was all over, but to be fair with 15 goals in the tournament - a teenage Ronaldo was in second place with six for PSV - he’d already done his bit.
Anyway, it augurs well for Bayern. That’s an aggregate score over six games of 16-4, and two of those matches ended 0-0. And if that isn’t enough to give Benfica pause, here’s what’s happened on the last two occasions a Portuguese side visited Bayern in the Champions League: Porto were thrashed 6-1 this time last year, while Sporting lost 7-1 in 2009. God speed, Águias!
The chances of Benfica winning a European trophy for the first time since landing their second European Cup in 1962, then, and thus breaking the six-decade curse of Bela Guttman? Not high. Still, on the last two occasions they got past the quarters, in 1988 and 1990, they went on to reach the final. And Juventus gave Pep Guardiola’s side a scare in the last round. So at 0-0 with 120 minutes to play, there’s always hope. It’s on!
Kick off: 8.45pm at the Fußball Arena München, 7.45pm here in British Summery London.
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