Claudio Pizarro 14

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Club Brugge 1 Bayern Munich 1

Bayern Munich missed the opportunity to finish top of Champions League Group A as they were held to a draw by Club Brugge on Wednesday night.

With Juventus defeating Rapid Vienna 3-1, Bayern dropped to second in the group but could have few complaints as they failed to do enough to break down a resilient Brugge side.

Claudio Pizarro put Bayern ahead after 21 minutes, but that goal was cancelled out 10 minutes later by Javier Portillo's wonder-strike.

Although Bayern had the better of the chances, Brugge never looked in too much danger and they held on for a point with the side already assured of a place in the UEFA Cup.

Bayern's aim for the game was to at least equal the result of Juventus in Vienna, while Brugge were simply looking for a positive performance with their future in the Champions League already over.

The visitors began the game brighter and got the goal they were looking for after 21 minutes.

Sebastian Deisler has scored in Bayern's last three Champions League games, but he was the provider this time as Pizarro maintained his excellent recent form with the opener.

The Peruvian needed just a delicate back-header to deflect Deisler's in-swinging free-kick past Tomislav Butina and into the back of the net.

Another Deisler free-kick shortly afterwards almost yielded the same result, although Martin Demichelis was off-target with his header.

Brugge did not seem too concerned at being one down and not too intent either on searching for an equaliser, until Portillo grabbed a goal out of nothing.

The Spanish midfielder cut in from the left but appeared to be causing no danger with Deisler in close attendance.

But having shifted the ball to his right foot, Portillo curled the ball past Deisler and beyond the reach of Oliver Kahn into the far corner from almost 25 yards out.

Magath brought Ze Roberto and Paolo Guerrero into the fray at half-time to try and inject a bit of life into his side and the tactical change almost paid immediate dividends with the fresh legs combining well down the left.

A one-two between the two substitutes gave Guerrero room to move into the box, but having taken play to the goalline, there was nobody he could pull the ball back to.

An accidental elbow to the cheek from team-mate Demichelis forced Owen Hargreaves to leave the field next as Magath was forced to play his last card early with Bastian Schweinsteiger coming on with over 20 minutes remaining.

Pizarro struck the crossbar from 25 yards as Bayern began to raise the tempo in search of a winner.

Schweinsteiger fired over the bar from six yards out and Deisler tested Butina with a curling effort from just inside the area.

As the clock ticked down, Guerrero raced through and thought he had put Bayern ahead, but time had actually run out with referee Laurent Duhamel blowing for time mid-way through the Peruvian's sprint in on goal.

Duhamel stood by his decision despite the Bayern protests, although the goal would have only changed the result and not the fact the German champions will finish the group second behind Juventus.

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