Reduced to ten men by the ejection of Franck Ribery, and tortured by a Lyon side that seemed unbreakable, Bayern Munich looked as if they would have to head to the Stade de Gerland next Tuesday with a high bar in front of them.
Instead, the Germans showed the resilience that has kept them among the world’s elite, and got a winner from the man who has almost single-handedly carried Bayern through this European Cup.
Arjen Robben was again the hero tonight, delivering a magical winner in the 69th minute to lead Bayern past Lyon 1-0. That the goal seemed to ever so slightly graze the head of Thomas Mueller as it bent past Hugo Lloris did not deny the Dutchman on the scoresheet. It, and this game, were his.
A bad week got worse for Ribery tonight at the Arena in Munich, his ejection for a dangerous foul on Lyon’s Lisandro possibly removing him from this year’s European Cup. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, following as it did on the heels of a very public prostitution scandal that has enveloped the French national team – and his admitted paid relationship with an underage woman.
The ejection changed the game instantly, depriving Bayern of one of the game’s two best attacking talents, and sending the crowd into full voice, with ref Roberto Rosetti taking the brunt.
But even Franz Beckenbauer, seen nodding in the tribune, agreed with the call. Ribery had swept in high on Lisandro’s shin, felling the Argentine instantly with what could easily have been a leg-breaker. To his credit, Ribery did not protest too much, and in truth, it would be facile to suggest that Lyon was handed anything in Munich Wednesday night.
Until that point, the game had been all Bayern, with Arjen Robben and Ribery forcing Cris and Aly Cissokho into yeoman work. Both men were outstanding, with Cissokho frustrating Robben down the right flank while Cris made a series of brilliant tackles to keep Ribery as much in check as humanly possible.
Lyon’s suffocating defense was about all that kept the French team in the match. Their best look at goal came from 40 yards out when Kim Kallstrom took a flier that Hans-Joerg Butt was forced to parry at full stretch. Youngster Diego Contento found his footing early and, along with Thomas Muller, was providing support for the front-runners. Nothing of substance resulted, however.
Lyon never accented the attack tonight, having to drop Toulalan into the back four with Mathieu Bodmer and Jean-Alain Boumsong unavailable. That meant a start for versatile Swede Kim Kallstrom in midfield, but it also left Miralem Pjanic and Ederson as the main creative options. The result was that Cesar Delgado and Lisandro got only rare sniffs at chances.
The onus was always on Bayern to force the pace, although they, too, had to improvise in the absence of Mark van Bommel and Holger Badstuber. Danijel Pranjic and Bastien Schweinsteiger did not get that involved in the first half and when Louis van Gaal pulled off the ineffective Ivica Olic at the interval for defender Anatoly Timoschuk it must have raised some eyebrows.
That decision may have cost Bayern as early as the 53rd minute when you wonder what might have happened if Olic had been on the field to finish after a splendid Philipp Lahm run into the penalty box and his resulting perfect cross which Muller muffed completely.
But Ribery would not be the only man to get his marching orders tonight. Toulalan would be carded twice in five minutes after the restart and sent packing to even the numbers with 35 minutes to play.
One foul, on Robben, was clearly of the professional variety; the other, a high foot on Bastian Schweinsteiger, was inexplicable conduct for a man who had been warned just four minutes prior. As it happens, that decision — which van Gaal could hardly have predicted — further called the decision to sit Olic down into question. After all, the French were now improvising on the fly at the back and little striker has been a Bayern trump card in this campaign.
Yet that goal finally came, and from the man who has been their inspiration, with Robben driving from outside the box, Mueller ducking between the shooter and Lloris and using his head for the slightest of deflections with 20 minutes remaining. Robben deserves the credit even if a close study of the replays suggests that it was Muller with a final touch.
That goal detonated a long, frustrating stretch where it seemed Lyon might just sneak out of Munich with a draw, and capped a furious display of pressure spearheaded by Robben and Philipp Lahm.
If we have learned anything about Lyon in this Champions League it is that we somehow underrate them, especially their defense. There are times when Cris and Cissokho seem to be getting there at absolutely the last gasp, but the French absorb with so much midfield depth that the clear-cut chances for Lloris have been neatly rationed.
After all, Lyon arrived at the Allianz Arena having given up just six goals in 10 competition matches so the fact that Bayern had a thicket to cut down -- and required 70 minutes to do it -- should have come as no surprise.
Robben nearly scored again with six minutes left, catching Lloris at full stretch to push the ball away. Even without Ribery, their second half dominance makes you believe that the Germans will go to France thinking it is their tie to win.
But consider this: Neither team had their full roster: Bayern were absent van Bommel and Badstuber due to suspension while Lyon missed Bodmer and Boumsong, both due to injuries.
All four will return next Tuesday while Ribery and Toulalan will not. And Bayern, for all their dominance, left many chances on the table. Manager van Gaal will surely rue those misses.
What is for sure is that next week’s rematch will be a cracker.
Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the Champions League and European football.
