Bayern Munich moved out of the European shadows as they booked a place in the Champions League final thanks to an Ivica Olic hat-trick.
Olic hat-trick breaks French hearts as Cris sees controversial red
Bayern Munich moved out of the European shadows as they booked a place in the UEFA Champions League final after an Ivica Olic hat-trick secured a 3-0 semi-final second-leg victory over Lyon at Stade de Gerland.
The German giants had not reached continental club football's showpiece event since winning the competition in 2001, an eternity by the standards of four-time champions who had slipped behind Spanish and English dominance for almost a decade.
But three goals from Olic earned a 4-0 aggregate passage to Madrid's Bernabeu in May, while Lyon finished the match with 10 men as captain Cris was controversially sent off after half-time.
With Bayern bringing a 1-0 first-leg lead to France, Lyon knew they had to score twice to reach a first final in their history.
However, they almost got off to the worst possible start when, with less than two minutes on the clock, Olic crossed in towards Thomas Muller who should have finished comfortably but the striker fired wide.
Lyon could have reignited the tie minutes later as a corner was headed on towards an unmarked Cris at the far post but the ball was just too high for him to get any direction on it.
Mountain to climb
And they were left with a mountain to climb shortly before the half-hour mark when Arjen Robben played in a lovely ball to Muller.
He was swiftly closed down by two Lyon defenders but managed to cut it back to Olic who spun and fired home in the 26th minute.
The hosts should have swiftly levelled as Michel Bastos got on the end of Sidney Govou's cross but the Brazilian, who was completely unmarked, fired wide of the right post.
It was almost worse for Lyon moments later when Robben let fly from outside the area and the shot took a slight deflection before brushing past the right upright.
Bayern came out after the break determined to finish the job and they came close to doing so shortly after the restart as first Bastian Schweinsteiger drove in a 25-yard thunderbolt which flew just over before Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was called into action to prevent what seemed a certain second.
Muller played a ball across the outside of the area to Robben who took a couple of steps before letting fly but Lloris pulled off a good stop to deflect it out for a corner.
Ironic applause
The Lyon goalkeeper, reportedly a target for the Bundesliga giants, almost went swiftly from hero to villain as, from the ensuing corner, Lloris was stranded in no-man's land as he took his eyes off the ball but fortunately so too did the Bayern attack and it floated harmlessly out of danger.
Lyon saw their final hopes slip away on the hour mark when Cris was booked for a ball-winning challenge and was then shown a second yellow for ironically applauding the referee.
However, that seemed to spark Lyon into life and moments later they had their first shot on target when Bayern goalkeeper Jorg Butt, who had been largely a spectator until then, was called on to keep out a powerful Govou effort.
Yet it was during Lyon's best period that Bayern served the killer blow.
Hamit Altintop sent a brilliant ball through to Olic who beat the offside trap with a perfectly-timed run and slotted a diagonal shot into the bottom right corner in the 67th minute.
Bayern should have extended their lead moments later but Lloris pulled off a fantastic stop to deny Robben before Jean Makoun's challenge stole the ball off Olic as he was about to let fly with his hat-trick in his sights.
Olic did score a third moments later, however, when he headed home Philipp Lahm's 77th minute cross from the centre of the area.
| Lyon |
Team Statistics |
Bayern Munich |
| 0 |
Goals |
3 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
Shots on Target |
5 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 1 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 2 |
Corners |
6 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
7 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
4 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 1 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 75.7 |
Passing Success |
80.4 |
| 22 |
Tackles |
27 |
| 77.3 |
Tackles Success |
81.5 |
| 41.3 |
Possession |
58.7 |
| 57.9 |
Territorial Advantage |
42.1 |
|
