Ribéry Brace as Basle are Faulty
Allianz Arena, December 8 - Bayern took the honours in a clash of the FCBs, comfortably beating Basle 3-0 to seal their seventh straight UEFA Champions League home victory.
The Swiss league champions, trained by ex-Bayern star Thorsten Fink, were left to rue their profligacy in front of goal - finding no way past the Reds' excellent stand-in goalkeeper Thomas Kraft. Kraft, 22, made three fine first-half saves to keep the Bavarians on level terms.
The visitors' wastefulness was clinically punished by a double strike just after the half hour mark. French star, Frank Ribéry, slotted home his first Champions League goal of the campaign, seizing on dogged work from Diego Contento to fire the opener against the run of play on 35 minutes.
In-form Ukrainian Anatoliy Tymoshchuk immediately doubled the lead, tapping in from close range after Mario Gomez had easily out-leaped the static Basle defence at a corner.
Ribéry sealed the deal, adding his second just after the break with a side-foot finish after clever approach play from Thomas Müller.
"We created lots of chances but Kraft saved us," commented Dutch coach, Louis van Gaal. "I am very pleased with his performance and he also gained valuable experience."
Bayern's fifth win in six matches crowned their most successful group phase in its illustrious Champions League history.
It also coincided with the one year anniversary of Bayern's emphatic 4-1 victory over Italian giants Juventus in Turin, which famously turned around the double winners' fortunes in all competitions.
Despite trailing runaway Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund by a massive SEVENTEEN points, expectations still remain amazingly high that van Gaal's charges can put together a similar winning spree after the Winter break to reel in Dortmund and also progress to the 'business end' of the Champions League.
