‘Result will boost our self confidence’
REJUVENATED Manager Ancelloti happy with Bayern Munich’s effort as they beat Atletico to win their 15thstraight Champions League match at home
Robert Lewandowski’s free-kick helped Bayern Munich to a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday with both teams already through to the knockouts.
Despite the result in bitterly cold Munich, Atletico go into the draw for the last 16 as Group D winners with Bayern second. “The result had little worth in terms of the table, but it meant a lot for our self-confidence,” said Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“We have to keep improving, and we’ll do that step by step.”
Having been knocked out in the semifinals by Atletico last season, Bayern avenged their 1-0 defeat in Madrid in September and extended their record streak in Champions League to 15 wins at home thanks to Lewandowski’s effort.
Atletico, who were close to full strength, suffered their first defeat in the group stages this season having been the only team to win all of their previous five. It denied them a club record of a perfect six.
“We had a couple of big chances at the start, but then Bayern took control,” said Atletico coach Diego Simeone.
“They controlled the ball and dominated the first half. In the second period, we looked better and it was more even and we come away with a positive feeling from our final 15 minutes.
“The first half was a different story to the second and we improved a lot.”
Ancelotti switched from the 4-2-3-1 formation, which won 3-1 at Mainz in the Bundesliga, with a 4-3-3 formation, surprisingly leaving out-of-form Thomas Mueller on the bench.
Lewandowski played either side of Arjen Robben and Douglas Costa on the wings with Thiago Alcantara, Arturo Vidal and teenage Portugal international Renato Sanches in midfield.
Simeone’s Atletico made a bright start with Yannick Carrasco, who scored when the hosts won 1-0 in Madrid in September, twice forcing Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer into action.
Bayern took the lead when Poland’s Lewandowski majestically floated his free-kick over the wall from the edge of the box and There were no jitters for Arsenal against It was for the first time Benfica 1 Napoli 2 Dynamo Kiev 6 Besiktas 0 into the top corner on 28 minutes.
It was from almost exactly the same position Lewandowski scored from in Friday’s 3-1 win at Mainz, but Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak was powerless to stop it. It was Lewandowski’s 24th goal in 24 appearances for club and country this season.
In celebration, the 28-year-old shoved the match ball under his playing shirt and stuck his thumb in his mouth and later revealed his wife Anna was pregnant.
“It was a good moment to reveal that my wife is pregnant. I practised free kicks before, but I have been practising them since the beginning of this season,” said Lewandowski. Team Arsenal PSG Ludogorets Basel P W D L GD Pts Napoli and Benfica managed Meanwhile, Lewandowski is set to extend his Bayern Munich contract. The 28-year-old Poland star has a Bayern contract until June 2019 and The Bavarians are working to finalise a two-year extension. “It won’t be very much longer before he signs,” Lewandowski’s agent Maik Barthel told Kicker magazine on Monday.
The club has confirmed conversations are ongoing. “There has been a conversation between my colleagues and (Lewandowski’s) father, who is one of his advisors,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told Sky last Friday. Atletico were looking On the other hand, Man City 1 Barcelona 4 Team Barcelona Man City M'gladbach Celtic M'gladbach 0 P W D L GD Pts Bayern Munich 1 PSV Eindhoven 0
Team Atletico Bayern Rostov PSV Celtic 1 Atletico 0 Rostov 0 P W D L GD Pts
Ex-England star Matthew Le Tissier became the highest profile former footballer to allege inappropriate behaviour involving children, saying he received “a really disgusting” naked massage from a former Southampton youth coach.
Le Tissier, a Southampton legend and one of the most naturally talented footballers of his generation winning 21 England caps, broke his silence saying he was given a massage as a youth player in which “everyone was kind of naked” and said Bob Higgins’s behaviour had made him feel uncomfortable.
“It’s very, very wrong,” the 48-year-old Le Tissier told the BBC, as English football reels from a series of allegations of sexual abuse of youth players at the hands of their coaches, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s.
The sale of AC Milan has been pushed back three months to March after a request by the Chinese consortium which is taking over the seven-time European champions.
Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi and Sino-Europe Sports (SES) had agreed a date of December 13 for the conclusion of a deal that valued the club at €740 million. On Wednesday SES and Berlusconi’s holding company Fininvest agreed on a new date of March 3 following a request by the Chinese consortium, which has already made a first down payment of 100m euros to buy the Serie A giants.