Bayern dominate a turbulent game against Bayer. Munich win the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League by a clear 3:0. For Leverkusen star Granit Xhaka, the referee also contributes to this.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Bayern Munich make a statement in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in a dominant display in the German clash.
- Harry Kane's brace and Jamal Musiala secured the first win at the seventh attempt over Leverkusen's master coach Xabi Alonso. Bayer's Nordi Mukiele was also shown a yellow card.
- After the game, Granit Xhaka was particularly annoyed about the penalty awarded by English referee Michael Oliver after VAR intervention.
18 days ago, Leverkusen dominated Bayern in the Bundesliga. In the end, the Munich side came away with an extremely fortunate 0-0 draw. In the Champions League, the roles were reversed on Wednesday evening. Bayern crushed Bayer 3:0 with ease.
"They were completely different games," said Granit Xhaka in an interview with blue Sport. "We were behind early on, which shouldn't really happen in the Allianz Arena. After that, we were stable enough not to concede a second goal. We were still well in the game with the 0:1 at half-time. Before that, we had another one hundred percent chance with Jeremy (Frimpong)," regretted the 32-year-old.
He finds the sending off against Mukiele "very unnecessary". It was the decisive scene in the game, the national team captain sums up. Xhaka is also very annoyed about the penalty whistle - after VAR intervention - by the English referee Michael Oliver following a duel between Edmond Tapsoba and Harry Kane.
Giving up not an option
A decision that Xhaka could not understand at all. "If you have to blow the whistle for a tackle like that at this level, there are a lot of penalties in the Champions League," he said.
"He's a referee from the Premier League. We're talking about Premier League toughness, where maybe a tackle can be a bit tougher," emphasizes the former Arsenal professional.
In the end, all the lamenting was of no use, Leverkusen went into the second leg with a 3-0 deficit. "Give everything again for 90 minutes and see what happens at the end," Xhaka concludes. It is clear that they will have to take more risks. "We need three goals. But we also know that anything is possible at home," said the Leverkusen strategist.
