Successful shift at Schalke: FC Bayern well-positioned in the CL

The players' tunnel at Schalke was once again representative of what was to come in the 90 minutes that followed. It was modelled on the entrance to a coal mine and gives the feeling of toiling away underground, of working hard at football. For Shakhtar Donetsk, the 15-time Ukrainian champions, these emotions are almost as deeply rooted in their DNA as they are at Schalke 04, the club that says it was born on a bed of coal. For every one of their Champions League home games, Shakhtar - in English: shaft worker or miner - make the journey from Kiev to Gelsenkirchen, incorporating a 15-hour bus journey to Poland and a flight from there to Düsseldorf. That in itself is quite a feat.

Bayern defy wave of injuries

The fact that Shakhtar weren't particularly happy to see the light of day again after 90 minutes of football against the German record champions, when Turkish referee Umut Meler blew the final whistle after a fitting 5-1 away win (2-1), was mainly due to the elegant hammering and tapping of FC Bayern. Nine players had had to withdraw from head coach Vincent Kompany's Champions League squad in the run-up to the game due to injury. In addition to captain and number 1 Manuel Neuer, more than half of the FCB attack - Kingsley Coman, Harry Kane and Serge Gnabry - were all sidelined. "Vincent and his coaching team made something good out of the difficult situation with all the injuries today," said CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen later that evening in his speech at the banquet in the stylish ambience of the Schwarzkaue, the miners' washhouse at the Zeche Ewald, or Ewald Colliery.

Despite the shortage of players, FC Bayern got off to their usual powerful start in the match at Schalke, which felt at least a little like a home game given the large number of FC Bayern fans who had travelled to the match. However, it was the hosts who struck first after Bayern lost possession. Shakhtar initiated a quick counter-attack against the Reds' high back four, Oleksandr Zubkov played an impressive pass into the channel and Brazilian Kevin's low shot left replacement keeper Daniel Peretz in the FC Bayern goal with no chance (5th minute).

Kompany: "We stayed calm“

"We stayed calm after the first goal," said Vincent Kompany, praising his team, which was led by veteran Thomas Müller as captain. "We were a bit sloppy at the start and weren't as aggressive. After that, we grew into the game," said Konrad Laimer - and it was the Austrian who levelled the score at 1-1 just six minutes later with his first Champions League goal for FCB. He blasted the ball under the Shakhtar crossbar from a tight angle after some good work from Michael Olise - a goal like hitting a vein of ore in a rockface.

"The opening goal caught us off guard," admitted Thomas Müller later. "But we then kept going and had many good pressing moments. They wanted to play out from the back, but then also lost a few balls, like when we scored our second goal." Leroy Sané blocked a pass in midfield from Shakhtar's Marlon, Jamal Musiala skilfully set up Müller, who was able to slot the ball home while falling to make it 2-1 (43'). FC Bayern had managed to turn the game around before half-time - and not undeservedly so: 31:2 touches in the opposition penalty area spoke for itself. However, the German record champions also had the luck of the brave. In another lightning-quick counter-attack, Shakhtar's young star Sudakov fired Kevin's cross just wide of the post from close range (44').

And that's how FC Bayern carried on in the second half - after another brief fright: Valerij Bonda had got in behind the Bayern defence and was just teeing up a shot when Thomas Müller sneaked up and stuck out a leg between the ball and the goal. "In the game, the perception was that the ball comes in, is knocked on and the opponent smells it and just wants the tap-in," Müller explained later. "But I stuck out my foot and somehow the ball actually ended up going over. I actually already saw it in the back of the net and then it didn't go in after all."

And good job too: Once again, FC Bayern created a high pressure phase against a very brave, deep-defending Ukrainian side. As the game progressed, the constant defending wore the hosts down - and opened the door to mistakes. However, the referee also made some errors: When Musiala volleyed a Kimmich corner inside the post to make it 3-1, to everyone's astonishment the goal was disallowed. Mathys Tel had touched Donetsk goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk - but neither pushed nor held him. Therefore, the goal should have counted but didn't. Undeterred, FC Bayern continued to press and substitute Sacha Boey took a shot from the edge of the box but also took a knock from Tunisian Shakhtar defender Alaa Ghram: penalty! Michael Olise converted confidently in the absence of top scorer Harry Kane to make it 3-1. "We kept going with our game plan and we were rewarded," commented the goalscorer later.

Gift for a birthday boy

Daniel Peretz then got the chance to show what he's capable of with a number of remarkable saves, like from Pedrinho's fine long-range effort, which the keeper turned round the post (83'): “I'm happy I was able to show the things in the game that I work on every day,” said the happy Champions League debutant. Peretz and his teammates then got to celebrate twice more as Shakhtar's strength ebbed away: First Jamal Musiala added a fourth with an excellent effort (87'), before Michael Olise weaved his way through half the Shakhtar defence to score the final goal and wrap up the game at 5-1 (90'+3). In stoppage time, attacking midfielder Arijon Ibrahimović got to celebrate his 19th birthday in style when he came off the bench for his Champions League debut and the players and staff then serenaded him with a birthday song at the post-match banquet.

So when the siren sounded to end the shift and the pit lift took FC Bayern back to the surface, even the gaffers were happy: "We've put ourselves in a good position today and will hopefully be in the top eight at the end of this group phase, or first round," said CEO Dreesen. ‘That would spare us the play-off games, which would be ideal given the workload," explained board member for sport Max Eberl. "We grew into the game and got better and better," said a delighted head coach Vincent Kompany. "Overall, it was a solid performance. We were dominant and had plenty of opportunities. Of course, you can always do better, but we're on the right track." That means the pit still holds some treasures for FC Bayern.

Thomas Müller was one of the match-winners on Tuesday evening: