Bayern steamroll Shakhtar Donetsk to reach Champions League quarters
Shakhtar Donetsk lost a defender to the fastest red card in UEFA Champions League history and Bayern Munich cruised into the quarterfinals with a 7-0 victory, matching its biggest home win and equaling the biggest win in the competition’s knockout stages on Wednesday night.
Muller opened the scoring with a fourth minute penalty after Oleksandr Kucher brought down Mario Gotze in the box and was sent off. And by the time the striker had added his second and Bayern's fourth in the 51th minute, Shakhtar's hopes of building on a creditable goalless draw in the first leg had long disappeared.
Kucher's dismissal clearly proved crucial as Bayern piled on the pressure with Robert Lewandowski twice coming close to doubling the deficit in the minutes following the opener. Lewandowski went on to head against the post in the 22nd minute then Shakhtar keeper Andrei Pyatov saved well to deny Franck Ribery from close range.
If the visitors had showed plenty of fighting spirit after being reduced to 10 men a Bayern breakthrough looked increasingly inevitable and it came in the 34th minute. Lewandowski's initial effort was palmed by the luckless Pyatov into the path of Jerome Boateng, who nudged home the rebound from close range.
Pyatov saved again to deny Lewandowski towards the end of the first half before Ribery made it three for the Germans two minutes into the second half. After good work by Gotze and Boateng down the Bayern right the ball sprang to the French winger who cut inside and fired a low shot past Pyatov.
By now the home side were rampant and Muller grabbed his second moments later when Pyatov saved from Ribery but the striker was in the right place to follow up. Shakhtar fashioned a rare chance just before the hour mark when Alex Teixeira's cross almost found Douglas Costa in the box but the danger was eventually cleared by Boateng.
Holger Badstuber made it 5-0 to Bayern on the night with a powerful header from a Rafinha cross, then Lewandowski made it six in the 75th minute. Having won the penalty which began the rout, Gotze rounded the evening off by striking Bayern's seventh and final goal three minutes before full-time.
"The red card and the penalty were decisive," said Germany international Schweinsteiger. "With 11 versus 11 it's surely a different game. But we played well, our passing was good."
