The third round of the UEFA Champions League group stage saw a high-flying FC Bayern Munich take on the Liga Portugal long-time giants Benfica, ending in a 4-0 away win for the Bavarians. Ahead of this game, Bayern was coming in being heavy favorites after dominating Bayer Leverkusen this past weekend on Matchday 8 of the Bundesliga. Benfica, though currently sitting atop the table in Portugal, was not able to rise to the occasion.
Though the first half was scoreless on both ends, it was still full of excitement and drama. The opening 10 minutes saw Bayern absolutely dominating in time of possession, barely allowing Benfica a touch of the ball. Even with such constant pressure in the final third, no goals were to show for it. After a couple of fast breaks from Benfica’s forwards Rafa Silva and Roman Yaremchuk, the momentum shifted into a more level playing field.
Toward the end of the half, things started to open back up for Bayern. In the 35th minute, Kingsley Coman had a header coming from a Thomas Muller cross fly narrowly over the bar. A few minutes later, Leroy Sane’s shot from distance bounced just outside the left goal post.
Just before the halftime whistle, Muller was sent charging down the right sideline, setting up Coman with a cross in which he sent across the face of Benfica’s goal to have none other than Robert Lewandowski to slot it home. However, after a rather quick VAR check, the goal was ruled out due to a Lewandowski handball.
The second half saw Bayern starting very fierce again. Within two minutes, right-back Benjamin Pavard struck the bar after a miraculous save from Benfica’s Odysseas Vlachodimos. Just three minutes after that, what would’ve been Muller’s 50th champions league goal was ruled out by VAR due to an offsides call.
After a foul on Lewandowski set up Bayern for a free-kick just outside the 18-yard box, Leroy Sane scored a 70th-minute screamer, floating it right up and over the wall. With his left foot, he whipped the ball perfectly to where the keeper didn’t stand a chance.
After coming on late in the game, Serge Gnabry sent in a cross from the right side, only to be deflected in the back of the net by Benfica’s Everton for a very uneventful own goal in the 80th minute. At this point, the goals started coming in rapid succession as the hopes of Benfica slowly fell. In the 82nd minutes, Robert Lewandowski got his revenge for the goal that was called back in the first half. A slide-rule pass from Sane set him up just a few feet in front of the goal for an easy tap-in.
Just two minutes later, Sane bagged his brace in the 84th minute stemming from a well-placed cross coming from the youngster Josip Stanisic.
With this 4-0 win over Benfica, just one more win will see Bayern Munich earn a guaranteed spot in the Round of 16 in the Champions League. After winning two in a row, Bayern will try to continue this run of great form in their game against Hoffenheim on Oct. 23.