bayern hold on to edge past lyon published: thursday 11 december 2008, 0.57cet
olympique lyonnais 2-3 fc bayern münchen
having been 3-0 up, bayern withstood a barrage of second-half pressure
to hold on for the victory which enabled them to claim top spot from lyon.
by matthew spiro from stade de gerland
fc bayern münchen withstood a barrage of second-half pressure from olympique lyonnais to seal an outstanding 3-2 win on french soil and clinch first place in uefa champions league group f.
rensing saves two first-half goals from miroslav klose and another from franck ribéry – exceptional on his return to france – had the german champions firmly in the ascendancy at half-time, yet lyon came back strongly in the second period. sidney govou and karim benzema both struck to herald a tantalising finale, only for a string of superb saves from goalkeeper michael rensing to keep the hosts at bay. the defeat means the french double winners must settle for second spot for the third successive year, while unbeaten bayern took their impressive tally of points to 14.
positive approach lyon were missing a raft of players through injury and suspension, although the fit-again benzema quickly gave the fans cause for optimism, angling a perfect cross through for ederson whose header was saved by rensing on two minutes. a goalless draw would have kept the ligue 1 champions top, yet there was no suggestion of negative tactics as claude puel's men laid siege to the bayern goal. ederson went close again moments later, this time skimming a shot narrowly wide.
clinical klose the in-form visitors had barely threatened when klose capitalised on their first chance in the eleventh minute. jean ii makoun appeared to have averted the danger when he robbed mark van bommel but jérémy toulalan, under pressure from ribéry, lost possession, allowing the german international to sidefoot high into the net. while lyon responded instantly, with benzema shooting into the side-netting after anthony mounier's cut-back, the goal had clearly shaken them.
influential ribéry with ribéry increasingly influential, lyon's inexperienced full-back lamine gassama looked in difficulty. the bayern no7 had already laid on a clear opportunity for tim borowski, who fired over, when he doubled the lead on 34 minutes. luca toni's reverse pass caught gassama out, enabling the french international to burst free and slide a shot beyond hugo lloris. again puel's team kept their heads up, with the luckless ederson shooting against the post, but they remained uncertain at the back and leaked a third goal on 37 minutes. after exchanging passes with bastian schweinsteiger, ribéry crossed invitingly to the far post for klose to steer home.
bayern rocking the ligue 1 outfit came out for the second period revitalised and reduced the arrears seven minutes in, govou stroking home after ederson's fierce drive had been parried by rensing. jürgen klinsmann's joint bundesliga leaders were suddenly rocking and after govou had nodded ederson's corner against an upright, rensing produced another miraculous stop to prevent john mensah scoring from the rebound.
thrilling climax the second home goal was not long in coming, though. after being played through inadvertently by van bommel, benzema rounded rensing and rifled in on 68 minutes to set up a thrilling climax. puel sent on fred, kim källström and césar delgado, but none of the substitutes could find a way through a resilient bayern back line. fred came closest, yet his downward header was kept out by the brilliant rensing.
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