Robben gives Bayern the edge
Source: Agencies |
April 23, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ARJEN Robben scored a second half winner as Bayern Munich beat Lyon 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday which both sides finished with 10 men.
Robben found the net in the 69th minute with a shot that took a slight deflection off his teammate Thomas Mueller.
Earlier, Bayern's star winger Franck Ribery was sent off in the 37th minute for a challenge on Lisandro and Lyon defender Jeremy Toulalan went off with his second booking in the 54th.
"We still have a tough evening in Lyon, nothing is decided yet," Robben said. "We only have a small advantage.
"We have a strong character. We just keep going. Tonight we fought for 90 minutes, even though it was tough for a while playing 10 against 11. 0-0 was not a good result so we all said we had to give another 10-20 percent. And we did that. In the second half we played better and were the better team."
Bayern had more chances throughout the match, while Lyon relied on rare counterattacks and created few threats. However, Lyon traveled to the match by road over two days because of the suspension in air traffic across Europe following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland.
"I am not looking for excuses," Lyon coach Claude Puel said. "They put us under a lot of pressure from the start and we lost possession too quickly. Had we kept our man advantage, it may have been a different game.
"I could live with a loss, but I wish we'd scored."
The result was one of the outcomes Bayern had been wishing for, with Lyon failing to score an important away goal. In the other semifinal, Inter Milan beat defending champion Barcelona 3-1 on Tuesday.
Robben, who has scored several decisive goals for Bayern this season, cut inside from the right flank and sent a shot that took a slight deflection off Mueller and slipped under goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Mueller ducked in an attempt to stay out of the way but the slight deflection was enough to catch Lloris on the wrong foot.
Ribery was sent off for a challenge on Lisandro after losing the ball. Ribery stepped on Lisandro's ankle with his right foot, leaving the Argentine to be carried off the pitch. Lisandro returned a couple of minutes later to a barrage of boos from the partisan crowd.
Ribery will now automatically miss next week's second leg in Lyon. He still has not committed himself to a contract extension with Bayern.
"After his red card, I didn't think we would win 1-0," Van Gaal said. "I didn't think it was a red card but he stood on Lisandro's foot a bit too long."
Robben thought the red card for Ribery may have been justified.
"You can live with it," the Dutch winger said. "Of course, he's not the kind of guy who does those kinds of fouls. But he went over the ball and it looked a bit dangerous. Also, because Franck and I get fouled a lot, it's good to see that the referee is there and protects players."
Lyon lost the man advantage when Toulalan received his second booking of the match from referee Roberto Rosetti of Italy for a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger. Toulalan's first booking was only three minutes earlier.
"I wish we'd scored another goal," Schweinsteiger said.
Bayern defender Philipp Lahm was on the same wavelength, saying that his team did not get the best result.
"But the main thing is that we did not concede a goal," Lahm said. "We can always score at least one goal on the road so it's very important that we kept a clean sheet."
Robben found the net in the 69th minute with a shot that took a slight deflection off his teammate Thomas Mueller.
Earlier, Bayern's star winger Franck Ribery was sent off in the 37th minute for a challenge on Lisandro and Lyon defender Jeremy Toulalan went off with his second booking in the 54th.
"We still have a tough evening in Lyon, nothing is decided yet," Robben said. "We only have a small advantage.
"We have a strong character. We just keep going. Tonight we fought for 90 minutes, even though it was tough for a while playing 10 against 11. 0-0 was not a good result so we all said we had to give another 10-20 percent. And we did that. In the second half we played better and were the better team."
Bayern had more chances throughout the match, while Lyon relied on rare counterattacks and created few threats. However, Lyon traveled to the match by road over two days because of the suspension in air traffic across Europe following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland.
"I am not looking for excuses," Lyon coach Claude Puel said. "They put us under a lot of pressure from the start and we lost possession too quickly. Had we kept our man advantage, it may have been a different game.
"I could live with a loss, but I wish we'd scored."
The result was one of the outcomes Bayern had been wishing for, with Lyon failing to score an important away goal. In the other semifinal, Inter Milan beat defending champion Barcelona 3-1 on Tuesday.
Robben, who has scored several decisive goals for Bayern this season, cut inside from the right flank and sent a shot that took a slight deflection off Mueller and slipped under goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Mueller ducked in an attempt to stay out of the way but the slight deflection was enough to catch Lloris on the wrong foot.
Ribery was sent off for a challenge on Lisandro after losing the ball. Ribery stepped on Lisandro's ankle with his right foot, leaving the Argentine to be carried off the pitch. Lisandro returned a couple of minutes later to a barrage of boos from the partisan crowd.
Ribery will now automatically miss next week's second leg in Lyon. He still has not committed himself to a contract extension with Bayern.
"After his red card, I didn't think we would win 1-0," Van Gaal said. "I didn't think it was a red card but he stood on Lisandro's foot a bit too long."
Robben thought the red card for Ribery may have been justified.
"You can live with it," the Dutch winger said. "Of course, he's not the kind of guy who does those kinds of fouls. But he went over the ball and it looked a bit dangerous. Also, because Franck and I get fouled a lot, it's good to see that the referee is there and protects players."
Lyon lost the man advantage when Toulalan received his second booking of the match from referee Roberto Rosetti of Italy for a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger. Toulalan's first booking was only three minutes earlier.
"I wish we'd scored another goal," Schweinsteiger said.
Bayern defender Philipp Lahm was on the same wavelength, saying that his team did not get the best result.
"But the main thing is that we did not concede a goal," Lahm said. "We can always score at least one goal on the road so it's very important that we kept a clean sheet."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
