Thursday 6 November 2014

Bayern Munich 2-0 Roma

Bayern Munich 2-0 Roma: Ribery and Gotze seal Group E progress

Goals from Franck Ribery and Mario Gotze sealed Bayern Munich's progress to the last-16 of the Champions League with a 2-0 win over Roma. The German champions made it four wins from as many matches in Europe's premier club competition this season with a convincing performance in the Group E clash at the Allianz Arena.  And while it was a far cry from their 7-1 drubbing of the same opponents in the Italian capital last month, Bayern were rarely troubled.  In the absence of the ill Arjen Robben, Ribery took centre stage and set the early tone when he coolly steered in a 38th-minute opener.  The home side then sealed victory as Gotze converted Robert Lewandowski's smart cross in the 64th minute.  Pep Guardiola's side are guaranteed to finish top of the group, with Roma's progression very much in the balance after CSKA Moscow's surprise 2-1 win at a nine-man Manchester City.  Robben was a late withdrawal due to a stomach bug that left Bayern with just six substitutes, while Francesco Totti and goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis dropped to the bench for the visitors.  De Sanctis was replaced by Poland's Lukasz Skorupski, who made just his seventh appearance for the club, but he had little to do in the early stages as Bayern were restricted to a series of strikes from distance despite dominating possession.  Juan Bernat had a promising effort well blocked by Vasilis Torosidis from inside the penalty area, but Roma, wary of a repeat of last month's thrashing, packed bodies behind the ball and were well organised.  David Alaba's 33rd-minute effort, which bounced just wide, was a warning for Roma, though, and their resistance was finally broken by Ribery soon after.
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