Bayern Munich fire power make light work of Besiktas at the Allianz Arena (Details, pics)

Bayern Munich all but secured their place in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League with a convincing 5-0 victory over Turkish side Besiktas. The side from Istanbul were playing in the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time and they were very much thrown in the deep end against the German champions.

Besiktas had set themselves up to try and threaten the Bavarians on the counter attack, but this plan was out the window after a quarter of an hour, when they were reduced to ten men. Hutchinson misplaced a pass straight into the path of Lewandowski and Vida took him down on the edge of the box. He was last man and the referee showed no hesitation in getting the red card out. What was a difficult task to begin with had just become a lot harder.

James Rodriguez put the resultant free kick just wide of the post, and it was a while before Bayern eventually did find their mark. In the 43rd minute, Coman cut the ball back from the byline on the left hand side to Alaba. The Austrian scuffed a finish but Thomas Muller, as he so often is, was in the right place at the right time to divert it past Fabricio in goal.

The scoreline remained 1-0 at half time but Bayern came out for the second half all guns blazing as they took Besiktas to the cleaners. 7 minutes into the second half Coman made it 2-0 after Lewandoski cut a pass back to him, the Frenchman tucking the ball home from the penalty spot.

Not content with this lead, Bayern piled forward at every opportunity with Arjen Robben offering a lot on the right hand side. The Dutchman started the game on the bench but came on for James just before half-time after the Colombian couldn’t recover from being struck on the side of the head by the ball.

On 66 minutes Kimmich crossed from the right hand side and Muller was on hand at the near post to direct it goal wards. The ‘keeper did get a touch but it was only enough to divert it into the roof of the net. Mats Hummels then tried to get in on the act and he hit a shot left-footed from 25 yards out. The goalkeeper could only parry it into the path of Robert Lewandowski who had an easy tap in for Bayern’s 4th.

That was probably enough to kill the tie, but still Bayern were not finished. With two minutes of time remaining, Muller was in behind the defence and unselfishly rolled the ball across the penalty box for Lewandowski to tap home for his second of the night.

Barring an unprecedented miracle in Istanbul, Bayern can now start looking forward to the Quarter Finals of this competition for another year on the bounce. Jupp Heynckes will no doubt talk about the threat of complacency but the truth is there was a clear gulf in class between these two sides. Besiktas acquitted themselves well in the first 15 minutes and were able to force a few corners, as well as one great save from stand-in goalkeeper Ulreich, but the red card was their undoing. Their attention will now turn to the Super Lig, where it is still all to play for amongst the top 4.