Bayern beats FC Basel 3-0 in Champions League
Franck Ribery scored twice Wednesday to help Bayern Munich beat FC Basel 3-0 in the final group match of the Champions League.
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk also scored for last season's runner-up.
Bayern was already assured of finishing top of Group E, winning five of its six games to finish at 15 points. AS Roma, which drew 1-1 at Cluj, also advanced to the round of 16 at 10 points. Basel finished third on six points and will move on to the Europa League, while Cluj finished bottom of the group with four points.
Ribery scored after good work by Diego Contento, who won the ball on the line and played it back to the Frenchman. David Abraham could not clear on the line and Bayern went ahead after 35 minutes.
Only two minutes later, Bayern struck again. A corner from Toni Kroos was headed down by Mario Gomez to Tymoshchuk, who slammed the ball under the crossbar.
Ribery notched his second in the 50th, connecting with a low centering cross from the right from Thomas Mueller.
Before Bayern's goals in the first half, Basel could have scored at least three times from one-on-one situations, but young goalkeeper Thomas Kraft foiled all of them.
Xherdan Shaqiri had the first opening after 10 minutes but Kraft dived to his left to palm the ball away. Alexander Frei and Marco Streller were also denied by the Bayern 'keeper, who is being gradually broken in to eventually take over from Hans-Joerg Butt.
On the other side, Bayern captain Mark van Bommel's shot from 20 meters (yards) went just over the bar and goalkeeper Franco Costanzo smothered an attempt by Kroos.
Ribery finished off a promising counterattack by shooting high late in the first half.
''We need a good win to get some confidence,'' van Bommel said. ''We did not play well in the first 25 minutes and we gave away some chances.''
In the Bundesliga, Bayern is 17 points behind leader Borussia Dortmund.
With Bayern up 3-0, Basel nearly conceded again, but Gomez and Bastian Schweinsteiger had their shots blocked.
Basel could not capitalize on a huge error by Breno when substitute Federico Almerares chipped the ball over the net.
Constanzo did well to swat away a low cross from Philipp Lahm in the 81st.