That might have been the sort of practice adopted by Germans at the 1982 World Cup along with their Austrian neighbours, but the current Bayern side are so well versed in the art of winning that it’s hard to see them doing anything else – and with plenty to spare.
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Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi both scored a brace while Gerard Pique and Adriano added two more as the defending champions steamrolled their Italian opponents 6-1.
Arsenal is clinging on to hope of advancing out of Group F with a 3-0 win at home over Dinamo Zagreb.
The Gunners managed a 3-nil home win against Dinamo Zagreb which leaves them three points behind Olympiakos.
It took just eight minutes for the Germans to strike.
Bayern slowed down with 10 men but still controlled the match. Robben went off with a leg injury on 33 minutes and Bayern’s fortunes took another turn for the worst on 52 minutes when Badstuber was shown a straight red. Bayern, who stretched their lead in Germany to eight points on Saturday, won the reverse fixture 3-0 in Piraeus with Thomas Mueller scoring twice.
INCIDENTS: Bundesliga game between Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich.
Douglas Costa got the opener and Robert Lewandowski scored his 28th goal in 25 games this season before Thomas Mueller tapped in the third.
These teams sit on top of their group’s standings, so we know we’re in for quite the match today.
Few teams will fancy facing Bayern in the knockout rounds, but captain Philipp Lahm said it was important for his side to ensure they progressed in first place, thereby avoiding a last-16 clash with other group winners, including Barcelona.
As BATE tried to hold on for a second surprise win of the group stage, Leverkusen dominated the game but could not break through the Belarusian team’s defence until the 68th minute, when Swiss forward Mehmedi hit an elegant volley inside the far post off a pass from Hakan Calhanoglu.
Tel Aviv was reduced to 10 men five minutes before halftime when former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim was sent off for a rash challenge on Diego Costa.
Gary Cahill had put the visitors up in the 20th minute.
“That was again another concentrated performance from us”, the centerback said. Coman bravely headed home before colliding with Roberto, leaving the Frenchman with a bloody nose as a reward for his gallantry.
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The Belgian side equalized in the 32nd minute through Danijel Milicevic’s cleverly worked free-kick.
