European soccer
September 29, 2010
Despite a slow start to the Bundesliga season, the German champions pulled off a 2-1 win against Basel on Tuesday courtesy of Germany international Bastian Schweinsteiger.
With just two wins this season Bayern are ten points adrift of league newcomers Mainz 05, who beat Louis van Gaal's side 2-1 last Saturday.
Schweinsteiger helped Bayern keep their Champions League 100 percent record with a goal in the 56th minute from the penalty spot and then tapped in the winner in the last minute of regular play to secure all three points for the visitors.
The Bavarians now head Group E. In their opening match two weeks ago Bayern Munich beat AS Roma in their opening group match.
Early lead for Basel
Swiss international Alex Frei put Basel ahead in the 18th minute with their first real goal opportunity. Marco Streller, a former Stuttgart and Cologne player, picked up from a mistake by Bayern defender Daniel van Buyten and passed to Frei who slotted the ball in the right-hand corner.
Bayern had 65 percent of the ball possession in the first half but failed to use their goal chances. In the 40th minute Basel, who are trained by ex-Bayern Munich star Thorsten Fink, nearly made it 2-0, but goalie Joerg Butt denied Xherdan Shaqiri the goal.
Coach Van Gaal reacted by bringing on Mario Gomez to replace Hamid Altintop for the start of the second half. World Cup joint top scorer Thomas Mueller was then brought down in the penalty area by ex-Frankfurt player Benjamin Huggel early in the second half. Bastian Schweinsteiger made no mistake taking the penalty to level the score.
It looked as if Bayern were settling for a single point even though Butt was tested twice in the closing moments of the match by the Swiss league leaders.
Taking the three points
Bayern then sealed the match when Holger Badstuber curled in a free-kick, leaving Schweinsteiger with a simple tap in with just a minute remaining on the clock.
"It was important to take three points, we had a good a start to the Champions League. When Basel took the lead, it was hard," Schweinsteiger said.
"It really hurts because we had a great chance. I'm disappointed because the team played well," said Basel coach Fink. "That was luck: they did it again on set pieces."
Bayern host Romanian side CFR Cluj in the next round on October 19.
Author: Nigel Tandy (SID/dpa/AFP)
Editor: Catherine Bolsover