Champions League: Bayern beat Benfica Lisbon – Manchester United turns 0-2

Coach Nagelsmann was sick

In the absence of the sick Julian Nagelsmann, FC Bayern strives for double goal scorer Leroy Sané inexorably towards the group victory. When returning to the location of the “royal class” triumph of 2020, the people of Munich had to wait a long time for redemption on Wednesday. In the 4-0 (0-0) at Benfica Lisbon, double packer Sané (70th / 85th), an own goal by Éverton (80th) and the next goal by Robert Lewandowski (83rd) left the German record champions without the one because of one Influenza-like infection cheering for the missing coach. After three wins in three games without conceding a goal, Bayern can make the round of 16 perfect in the second leg against the Portuguese in two weeks.

First of all, the Munich team enjoyed the ultimately glamorous evening in the Estádio da Luz, where they won the Champions League 14 months ago. Of course he was “a little tense, a little nervous,” admitted assistant coach Dino Toppmöller before kick-off at “DAZN” and emphasized that “everything was discussed” and that the team were well prepared. The Bavarians underpinned this with a very brisk initial phase and demonstrated with several great opportunities that they had internalized Nagelsmann’s goal (“The goal is to leave the ground in Lisbon with three points”).

Three days after the 5-1 gala in the Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern continued with power football. Lewandowski (2nd / 9th) and Sané (5th) gave good chances for an early lead in the first ten minutes. At the first opportunity, the Polish world footballer was probably just offside, at the second, the 2017 U21 European champion Odysseas Vlachodimos parried quickly in the Benfica goal. Since the team around the ex-Dortmund player Julian Weigl also appeared without fear as expected and tried to find playful solutions, a long, very entertaining game developed, which was only decided in the second half.

On the sidelines, Toppmöller was a little quieter and less active than Nagelsmann, who had stayed in the hotel because of a flu-like infection. The 40-year-old son of Klaus Toppmöller experienced the greatest shock after half an hour, when goalkeeper Manuel Neuer brilliantly parried a dangerous shot from Darwin in his 100th premier class game for Munich (33rd). In this phase, Bayern lacked the power of the opening minutes and the precision in the end. Sané tried his luck again with a long-range shot (38th), but it passed.

Benfica gave Bayern a hot and heated duel on equal terms for a long time, which was only decided after the break. The second half began like the first – with dangerous Bayern actions. When Pavard shot, the towering Vlachodimos deflected the ball against the post with a defensive foot (47.). A little later he was beaten – but Müller’s supposed hit did not count because of a previous offside position after checking by the video assistant (52nd). A little later, Bayern had to thank Neuer again for not falling behind.

Diogo Gonçalves forced the Munich goalkeeper to make a spectacular flight (55th). The game remained contested. Benfica attacker Roman Yaremchuk forgave just before Neuer (68th) – before it finally worked for Bayern on the other side. The agile Sané crowned his performance with a remarkable free kick from a good 20 meters. When Benfica finally lost their strength, Bayern increased with more hits to the victory, which was a bit too high in the end.

ENOUGH! What a second half in Lisbon! #SLBFCB 0-4 pic.twitter.com/Yd3gpFWKdM

– FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayern) October 20, 2021

Champions League: Manchester United turns 0-2 against Atalanta Bergamo

Manchester United also dreams of getting ahead. “Premier class” record scorer Cristiano Ronaldo calmed the nerves of his coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was most recently criticized, with his goal to make it 3-2 (0-2) against Atalanta Bergamo in the 81st minute. Previously, Marcus Rashford (53rd) and Harry Maguire (75th) equalized after goals from Mario Pasalic (15th) and Merih Demiral (29th). The English climbed to first place in Group F. In addition, the Young Boys Bern missed the opportunity to give their coach David Wagner a subsequent gift. The Swiss, who looked tired at the end, lost out to FC Villarreal 1: 4 (0: 2) one day after the former Schalke’s 50th birthday.

Defending champion FC Chelsea did their job well, but lost their strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner. In the 4-0 (2-0) win against Malmö FF, the Belgian international Lukaku had to go down after 23 minutes due to an injury. Shortly before the break, Werner couldn’t go on either. The goals for the Londoners, trained by Thomas Tuchel, were scored by former Gladbacher Andreas Christensen (9th), Italian European champion Jorginho twice with a penalty (21st / 57th) and Kai Havertz, who came on for Lukaku (48th).

To home page