Bayern Munich can continue to dream of winning the UEFA Champions League at their own Allianz Arena after comfortably eliminating Marseille.
Olic double means German giants await Real or APOEL
Bayern Munich can continue to dream of winning the UEFA Champions League at their very own Allianz Arena after comfortably eliminating Marseille in the quarter-finals.
A 2-0 second-leg win in Bavaria gave Jupp Heynckes' Bundesliga side a 4-0 aggregate success against their visitors from France.
In a rotated Bayern team, Ivica Olic scored both goals in the first half to give his side, who were inspired by the excellent Franck Ribery, a straightforward path to the semi-finals.
Bayern will now face either Real Madrid or underdogs APOEL in the semis, with Jose Mourinho's La Liga leaders holding a 3-0 aggregate advantage ahead of their second-leg.
In contrast, comfortably out of the domestic title race and dumped out of the cup by unfancied opposition, Didier Deschamps is under added pressure and Marseille's turgid form has already seen his position come under some scrutiny.
Stunning
Jerome Boateng set the tone for the hosts on Tuesday night with an early header that whistled just over, before Marseille stirred, with Loic Remy and Jeremy Morel were both denied by Manuel Neuer.
Bayern then stepped up and took a 13th minute lead.
Ribery created the goal, embarking on a looping run around the Marseille defence and then crossing for Olic who, from a potentially offside position, stabbed beyond Steve Mandanda.
Neuer then had to earn his money again as he beat away a Stephane M'bia effort, before Ribery went close with a shot on the turn.
Mandanda then produced a stunning spell of goalkeeping. First he denied Toni Kroos and then parried a volley from Anatoliy Tymoschuk.
Cruise control
Shortly after, he made a wonderful save to keep out Olic, before beating away Thomas Muller's bullet header from a corner.
When Kroos then beat Mandanda, the woodwork came to his rescue, but he could do nothing to stop Olic's second after 37 minutes.
Mathieu Valbuena carelessly lost possession close to Bayern's corner flag and, as quick as a flash, Ribery and David Alaba launched a length-of-the-field counter-attack that ended with the latter crossing for Olic to convert.
The outstanding Ribery drew a double save out of Mandanda after the restart, and then the equally-impressive Kroos went close when he dragged a shot wide.
Brandao's header could have given Marseille the most fanciful of lifelines, but sailed over and from then on, Bayern clicked into cruise control and saw the game out with some ease.
| FC Bayern München |
Team Statistics |
Marseille |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 9 |
Corners |
2 |
| 8 |
Fouls |
10 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
3 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 85.2 |
Passing Success |
85.2 |
| 22 |
Tackles |
18 |
| 72.7 |
Tackles Success |
88.9 |
| 49.5 |
Possession |
50.5 |
| 45.8 |
Territorial Advantage |
54.2 |
| 481 |
Total Passes |
485 |
| 19 |
Total Crosses |
22 |
| 136 |
Lost Balls |
149 |
| 70 |
Recoveries |
71 |
|
