http://www.fcbayern.telekom.de/en/news/ ... /38303.phpValencia 1 Bayern 1
FCB through, but ten-man Valencia pilfer draw
20.11.2012
Bayern are safely through to the Champions League last sixteen and are favourites to finish top of Group F after a scrappy draw away to Valencia on Tuesday, although Jupp Heynckes’ men will be disappointed not to have wrapped up the group win there and then after the Spaniards, who join FCB in the first knockout round courtesy of Lille's 2-0 victory over BATE Borisov, played almost two-thirds of the match with ten men following Antonio Barragan’s 33rd-minute dismissal.
The 44,000 crowd at the venerable Mestalla in Valencia saw the visitors dominate the first 25 minutes but fail to put away a number of decent chances. The red card for Barragan’s scything challenge on David Alaba ought to have played into Munich’s hands, but Mauricio Pellegrino’s home team responded courageously and more than held their own for a spell.
FCB survived a couple of scares after the restart but gradually regained the upper hand, sub Mario Mandzukic hitting a post with 20 minutes to go. The evening took a wrong turn when Sofiane Feghouli scored a deflected opener after 77 minutes, but Thomas Müller put away the deserved equaliser five minutes later. Mario Gomez made a first appearance of term as the visitors poured forward in search of a winner, but the Spaniards held out with a blend of skill and some unsavoury time-wasting.
The result, combined with Lille’s first win of the Champions League season, sees FCB through to the Round of 16 on ten points from five games. Valencia's record is identical, but the La Liga side trail the Bundesliga leaders on the head-to-head comparison between the sides. Borisov on six points are now playing for third place when they visit the Allianz Arena in two weeks, where the Reds can win the section by equalling or bettering Valencia's result away to the French representatives in the parallel fixture. FCB are next in action on Saturday when Hannover 96 visit the Allianz Arena in the Bundesliga.
Heynckes made five changes to the team held 1-1 by Nürnberg, including a recall for Ribery despite the winger’s less than complete recovery from bruising to the ribs. "He’s certainly still feeling a few twinges, but Franck can definitely play," the boss said beforehand.
The Bayern line-up featured Manuel Neuer in goal, a back four of Alaba, fit-again Holger Badstuber at centre-back for the first time this season, Dante and captain Philipp Lahm, with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Spain international Javi Martinez in the holding roles, Müller and Ribery out wide, and Toni Kroos operating in the zone behind front man Claudio Pizarro.
Valencia boss Mauricio Pellegrino, one of the home side’s centre-halves when the teams drew 1-1 in the corresponding fixture in the Champions League more than 13 years ago, also made five changes to his weekend team, including dropping Diego Alves in favour of Vicente Guaita in goal. 35-year-old David Albelda, the only other survivor on either side from the 1999 clash, took his place among the subs.
MATCH GALLERY
After a glorious day on the Orange Blossom Coast, the temperature had fallen to a very pleasant 16 degrees Celsius by the time English referee Howard Webb whistled play underway, with the visitors seizing the initiative right from the off and carving out a string of early half-chances. Guaita palmed away Ribery’s fifth-minute cross, Dante flicked a header wide, Müller’s cross-cum-shot flashed across the face of goal, and Alaba curled a free-kick over the bar, all in the first 15 minutes.
Adil Rami did have the ball in Neuer’s net from a set play after a rare home foray, but Mr Webb had long before blown for a foul. At the other end, Dante forced Guaita into a fine save with a header from Bayern’s fifth corner in the first 20 minutes, but Pellegrino’s side held their own for a spell and Neuer made a superb stop to deny Feghouli after danger man Roberto Soldado’s shot was blocked.
The complexion of the match changed on 33 minutes when Barragan, already booked for an early foul on Ribery, saw a wholly justified straight red card for slicing through Alaba. Munich bided their time now, Pizarro drawing a diving stop from Guaita, but the Spaniards rapidly adapted to a new 4-4-1 formation and Feghouli curled one wide from Soldado’s cheeky backheel with the last opening before the interval.
Dante and Soldado each put half-chances wide in the early exchanges after the restart, but FCB lived dangerously for a spell, with livewire Soldado swiping a shot across the face of goal and then fizzing a drive over Neuer’s bar when scoring looked a certainty.
Heynckes reacted to his side’s passivity midway through the second half by replacing Kroos and Pizarro with Xherdan Shaqiri and Mandzukic, the Croat so nearly making an immediate impact with a header off the post from Shaqiri’s lob, but the evening turned sour for the Reds after 77 minutes when Feghouli’s shot took a wicked deflection off Dante and trickled past Neuer, frustratingly enough from a free-kick earned by Andres Guardado’s blatant simulation.
Gomez made his first appearance of term as a replacement for Ribery with ten minutes left, and the sub was immediately involved with a flick from Lahm’s cross to set up Müller for a ten-yard finish and a wholly deserved equaliser on 82 minutes, the ball clipping off Feghouli's ankle on its way into the net. Munich went for it in the closing stages but the Spaniards, deploying a mix of skill, cunning and time-wasting, saw the game through to its close and a result which was, at the end of the day, satisfactory enough for all concerned.
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