Ten-man Bayern crush Olympiakos to book knockout place

MUNICH: Ten-man Bayern Munich eased into the Champions League knockout stages after demolishing Greece's Olympiakos Piraeus 4-0 on Tuesday to secure top spot in Group F with a game to spare.

The German champions, who had defender Holger Badstuber, back from injury, sent off early in the second half with a straight red card, were unstoppable in the opening 20 minutes, scoring three times to put the game to bed early.

"We wanted to play our game from the start, with a lot of motivation and drive. We wanted to get an early goal and not have to reach the 70th minute with the game tight," scorer Thomas Mueller said.

Poland striker Lewandowski doubled their lead with his fifth goal in five group games, picking up a Coman effort to fire while an easy tap-in by Mueller from an Arjen Robben header that caught the defence completely off guard made it 3-0 for the hosts.

Olympiakos, who had won their previous three group games, had to wait until the 44th for their first chance, with Luka Milivojevic sending a free kick wide.

"It is a heavy defeat but if you want to challenge such an amazing team you have to be the top of your game," said Olympiakos coach Marco Silva. "We weren't tonight. We did not fight as much as we should have. So we now have to get a result in our final game (against Arsenal)."

The Greeks enjoyed a bit more possession but Coman got in on the act heading in Mueller's nod for Bayern's 14th goal in their three group home games.

 

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