Sports
Bayern Show Steel to Beat Atletico 2-0 and Underline Champions League Credentials
Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Atletico Madrid through Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer, ending the hosts' nine-game unbeaten run and strengthening their push for a top-eight finish in the Champions League league phase.
Photo: Paul Colin Hennig / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo shows a football stadium from above, not Bayern's match at Atletico Madrid.
Bayern Munich strengthened their case as Champions League contenders with Tuesday's 2-0 victory at Atletico Madrid, combining defensive discipline with clinical finishing at the stadium that will host the final in June.
Facing a determined Diego Simeone side and a partisan crowd, the Bundesliga champions produced a controlled performance despite missing several attacking players and manager Vincent Kompany, who is recovering after collapsing at training.
The win mattered for Bayern's prospects of finishing in the top eight of the league phase and qualifying directly for the last 16. They had drawn 2-2 with Arsenal and 3-3 against Viking in their previous two European matches.
Atletico, last season's semi-finalists, came into the game on a nine-game unbeaten run that included eight wins, but struggled to create clear chances against a compact Bayern defence.
Bayern's defensive cohesion held until Lennart Karl capitalised on a Robin Le Normand error to open the scoring. Harry Kane's pass and the power of Konrad Laimer's finish stood out in the second goal, but it was coordinated pressing that forced Atletico into surrendering possession in a dangerous area.
"The way we defended together as a group to get the clean sheet, we were really pleased with the whole team performance," Bayern assistant manager Aaron Danks told a press conference. "Tonight was about the collective group, about the spirit of this group, to come together in adversity and get a result in a difficult ground."
Without relying on decisive individual performances or fluid attacking play, Bayern kept the Spanish side at bay with relative ease. The result also spoke to a longer European problem they are trying to fix: Bayern had conceded at least four goals across the two legs in each of their last four Champions League eliminations.
Led by Ballon d'Or holder Kane, Bayern possess a squad capable of competing with Europe's leading sides, and at the Metropolitano they showed the cohesion needed to challenge for the trophy.
Source: Reuters
Read Also
- Jaissle Frustrated as Newcastle Lose 1-0 at Home to Everton — Sports
- Antonelli, 20, Becomes Formula One's Youngest World Champion in Mexico City — Sports
- Marquez Wins Malaysian Grand Prix to Close In on Eighth MotoGP Title — Sports
Pawartaenggal Newsroom