Bayern Munich travelled to Ukraine to take on Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of the round of 16 tie of the UEFA Champions League and the game turned out to be goalless.
The biggest talking point of the match was the sending off of Xabi Alonso who was shown a second yellow card in the 65th minute. The Spaniard was a doubt for the game but started in midfield alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger. Pep Guardiola reverted to a three at the back system with Bernat, Boateng and Rafinha in defence. Robert Lewandowski made way for Franck Ribery.
The game wasn’t the most appealing one to watch as both sides had just one shot on target. Bayern though will be happy to go back to Allianz Arena with a draw despite playing with 10-men.
Bayern manager Pep Guardiola said, “We had more chances to score. Shakhtar Donetsk had none, zero.
“We were a man down for a long time, and that obviously makes it very difficult. We controlled the play, but we created very few scoring chances.
“We have to win the return now, and we’ll do it with our fans behind us.”
“We were able to keep Alex Teixeira, Taison and Douglas Costa under control and I am very happy with this.
“Maybe for the next game in Munich our target, our game, will be completely different.”
Bayern’s Sporting DirectorMatthais Sammer said that he wouldn’t have taken a draw before the game, but added that with 10-men, it was a decent result, “If you’d offered it me beforehand I wouldn’t have been satisfied. After the sending-off I can probably live with it a little better, but I consider it a dangerous result because it only sounds good on the face of it.
“We controlled their counter-attacks well. But you can see we still have room to improve, and that’s the message. We need to put it behind us now and shift up a gear if we’re to make the next round. It wasn’t bad, but it’s not the real Bayern yet — and that’s where we have to be.”
Shakhtar manager Mircea Lucescu felt that Bayern Munich did not let his side attack after fouling them in the final third whenever they got forward, “Sometimes we tried to play on the offensive but when we did that, Bayern’s players fouled us,” he said.
“I’m satisfied with our performance and the result. We had our last competitive game two and a half months ago and we looked fine tonight. We still have a chance.”