Arjen Robben’s 30-yard blast into the upper left-hand corner in the 65th minute allowed Bayern Munich to escape their UEFA Champions League second-round tie Tuesday night as Fiorentina won 3-2 on the evening, but Bayern advance on away goals (it finished 4-4 aggregate).
On a windy, cold, generally miserable wet night at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, the two teams somehow produced a Champions League classic, although it certainly didn’t begin that way.
Bayern started the night with a 2-1 advantage and knew a scoreless draw would see them through, but any hope of that was killed off in the 28th minute, when – with the wind – Marco Marchionni hit a 40-yard shot that looked harmless. But it skipped in front of veteran goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt, who could only push it in front of him. Belgian defender Daniel Van Buyten – already having a tough night as there were a couple of penatly appeals against him that were waved off – was somehow beaten to the ball by a hustling Juan Vargas and Fiorentina had the goal and the edge in the tie (thanks to away goals).
The Peruvian Vargas was probably the best player on the field in the first half, but it was up to Bayern at halftime – who now needed a goal – to find a way to get wingers Robben and Frank Ribery more involved in the second half (although Robben did have a great chance in the 34th minute denied by goalkeeper Sebastian Frey from 10 yards out).
But it was Fiorentina who came out stronger in the second half as well. In the 50th minute, Marchionni’s cross was missed by both Van Buyten and Holger Badstuber (filling in for Martin Demichelis at center back), but Alberto Gilardino couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and Butt made the save.
Four minutes later, though, Fiorentina’s lead was doubled. Again it was Marchionni down the right side (taking some advantage of the fact that Bayern manager Louis Van Gaal give 17-year-old Austrian international David Alaba his first Champions League start at left back), this time his cross found Gilardino, who laid it off for 20-year-old Montenegran striker Stevan Jovetic, who made no mistake from 12 yards out.
Still, an away goal for Bayern would even the tie and that’s exactly what they got in the 60th minute, when Ribery – with four players on him down the left side – put in a low cross. Thomas Muller was smart enough to dummy it, and Mark van Bommel – with the wind and running at full speed – smartly side-footed it past Frey, even though he was 25 yards out.
But this game was just springing to life. In the 64th minute, Vargas played a perfect ball to Jovetic down the left side whose pass to Gilardino was deflected, but found its way through. Again it appeared Van Buyten should have dealt with the return pass to Jovetic, but the smaller striker knocked him off the ball and slid it under Butt to give Fiorentina a 3-1 lead on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.
However, that only set up Robben’s heroics. Only 72 seconds after Jovetic’s second goal (and only 22 seconds after Bayern kicked off), Robben found himself with the ball on the right side. He took a couple of dribbles to get the ball on his favored left, but still appeared out of range to shoot. Until, of course, he did, and his rocket (with the wind helping) gave Frei no chance as it was all but perfect.
Fiorentina, just 11th in Serie A and trying to get to the quarterfinals of this (or comparable) competition for the first time since 1970, had a couple of half-chances in the dying minutes, but never seriously threatened Butt’s goal, and Bayern Munich – albeit somewhat fortunately – was through to the quarterfinals.
Recent Comments