daniel van buyten billed fc bayern münchen's semi-final meeting with olympique lyonnais as "very special" but rates his side's chances of victory as no greater than 50-50.
"we have the chance to go through to the final – it's an opportunity a footballer doesn't get many times in his life." daniel van buyten needs no reminding of the importance of fc bayern münchen's uefa champions league tie against last-four debutants olympique lyonnais.
bayern, themselves at this stage for the first time since winning the competition in 2001, were on the brink of exiting at the group stage but stayed afloat courtesy of a 4-1 win at juventus on matchday 6. van buyten is eager that louis van gaal's men – two points clear at the top of the bundesliga – do not rest on their laurels.
"we will try to win as many trophies as we can and we want a very strong end to the season," said the defender. "our motivation is very, very high. [lyon's] confidence is back. the champions league is their focus now. we are wary but we are also looking forward to this game. bayern have won the champions league several times, but we also are very hungry and want to win this competition."
van buyten, 32, has been an integral part of van gaal's team this term adding six league goals to his reliably stoic defensive displays. after a slow burning start to the campaign bayern, 7-0 victors against hannover 96 at the weekend and with a german cup final to come next month, remain in the hunt for a treble but van buyten is cautious of the threat posed by lyon.
"our chances against lyon are 50-50," he added. "lyon beat real madrid [in the round of 16] and played very, very well, especially in the second leg in spain. lyon's defence is very well organised and they know how to counterattack. their keeper hugo lloris is one of the best in europe. he has been their match-winner several times this season. but we also did very well. we won our ticket to the semi-finals during the second leg at manchester united."
van buyten's defensive partner philipp lahm is confident bayern have sufficient momentum and focus to overcome their ligue 1 opponents, explaining: "we are in very good shape. we are still top of the bundesliga and put in a very strong performance against hannover. but the bundesliga counts for nothing at the moment. now we are concentrating on the champions league."
robben tips balance bayern's way published: wednesday 21 april 2010, 22.30cet
arjen robben's goal proved the difference after franck ribéry and jérémy toulalan had been sent off.
arjen robben was the decisive figure again as fc bayern münchen earned the slenderest of leads to take to olympique lyonnais in the uefa champions league semi-finals.
bayern were in charge from the first whistle, although the balance of the tie looked to have shifted when franck ribéry was sent off shortly before half-time. lyon's numerical advantage was short-lived, however, as jérémy toulalan collected two yellow cards early in second period, and the bundesliga leaders' reward for a dominant display finally arrived as the game moved into its final quarter. robben – who scored winning goals against acf fiorentina and manchester united fc in previous rounds – fired in from outside the penalty area.
inspired by a wonderfully choreographed display from their fans it was bayern who set the early pace, enjoying the majority of the possession as lyon sat back. the first chances duly went the home side's way, the unmarked daniel van buyten blazing a wayward volley into the munich sky before bastian schweinsteiger headed robben's corner wide after hugo lloris had missed his punch.
thomas müller twice failed to find the target after impressive creative work from ribéry and robben, while ivica olić sliced wide from the left side of the penalty area. lyon did their best to alleviate the pressure with a string of balls into the bayern box, though they were limited to set pieces and a deflected long-range drive from ederson.
bayern's momentum was further checked eight minutes before half-time when ribéry was shown a straight red card after catching lisandro high as the ball ran away from him. the visitors promptly enjoyed their first spell of sustained possession and kim kallström's powerful long-range effort drew a fine stop from hans-jörg butt on the stroke of half-time.
the interval gave the home team the chance to regroup, however, and they were again fastest out of the blocks after the restart. danijel pranjić, standing in for the suspended mark van bommel but himself now banned for next tuesday's second leg after a first-half booking, forced lloris into the half's first save with a dipping left-foot volley. schweinsteiger sent a powerful header wide and müller missed another glorious opportunity, failing to convert philipp lahm's low cross.
bayern's hopes were raised yet further in the 54th minute when it became ten against ten, toulalan collecting his second yellow card in quick succession. with the teams again level numerically bayern regained control, robben and the energetic schweinsteiger both firing narrowly wide.
it seemed a frustrating night had been assured when unmarked substitute mario gómez nodded tamely into the arms of the grateful lloris, but the moment the home faithful had been longing for finally arrived in the 69th minute, robben's thumping 25-metre strike wrong-footing lloris after glancing off müller's head.
claude puel's visitors mustered only a late sidney govou effort that flashed wide by way of response, and had goalkeeper lloris to thank for keeping their deficit at one goal when he superbly denied robben late on. lyon still have work to do at the stade de gerland.
yardımcı hakemler: paolo calcagno (ita), stefano ayroldi (ita)
4. hakem: andrea de marco (ita)
bayern: jörg butt (gk), daniel van buyten, martín demichelis, franck ribéry, arjen robben (dk. 85 hamit altıntop), ivica olić (dk. 46 anatoliy tymoshchuk), philipp lahm (c), danijel pranjić (dk. 63 mario gomez), thomas müller, diego contento, bastian schweinsteiger
yedekler: michael rensing (gk), andreas görlitz, miroslav klose, david alaba
teknik direktör: louis van gaal (ned)
lyon: hugo lloris (gk), cris (c), kim källström, miralem pjanić (dk. 56 jean makoun), lisandro, ederson (dk. 70 michel bastos), anthony réveillère, césar delgado (dk. 79 sidney govou), aly cissokho, jérémy toulalan, maxime gonalons
