A largely second-string Bayern Munich comfortably secured top spot in Group F of the UEFA Champions League with a 4-1 victory at home to BATE Borisov on Wednesday in a match in which both teams finished with 10 men.
For Bayern it was a measure of revenge for BATE’s 3-1 win in Belarus in taking Group F honors with 13 points, while BATE had already guaranteed third place and a spot in the Europa League round-of-32 with six points.
Mario Gomez gave Bayern the lead after 22 minutes, but the hosts were reduced to 10 men when defender Jerome Boateng was sent off after 51 minutes.
Photo: EPA
However, Thomas Mueller doubled their lead in the 54th minute and Xherdan Shaqiri ended the match as a contest by making it 3-0 after 66 minutes.
BATE also finished the game with 10 men when Denis Polyakov was given a second warning for diving in the box in the 69th minute.
David Alaba made it 4-0 in the 83rd minute, before Yegor Filipenko scored a consolation goal for Borisov in the 89th.
BATE had the first chance of the game after 11 minutes, but Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer saved Aretm Kontesevoi’s low shot to his right.
Bayern grabbed the lead in the 22nd minute when Shaqiri fought his way through the left side and crossed into the box where Gomez poked the ball past BATE goalkeeper Andrei Gorbunov for his first Champions League goal of the season and the 21st of his career.
Bayern came close to doubling their lead in the 39th minute when Toni Kroos turned and unleashed a blast which Gorbunov did well to bat out of danger.
Bayern went a man down in the 51st minute when Boateng was shown red for his foul on Kontsevoi, but that did not matter as Munich made it 2-0 in the 54th minute when Mueller volleyed in Bastian Schweinsteiger’s headed pass off Kroos’ long ball from the left.
Gomez and Shaqiri swapped roles for Bayern’s third goal in the 66th minute as Gomez chipped a pass from the left into the box, where the diminutive Shaqiri headed home from close range to make it 3-0.
The visitors night worsened when Polyakov was booked a second time for overacting.
Alaba got on the scoresheet in the 83rd minute when the Austria international ran onto Ribery’s corner and blasted a left-foot shot into the lower-left corner to make it 4-0.
BATE grabbed a consolation goal in the 89th minute when Filipenko beat Neuer.
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