Bayern posted a vital victory but knew they had been in a game on Tuesday night after edging out a physical Lille side in their third Champions League Group F fixture. The home side frequently resorted to roughhouse stuff in an untidy match, but Jupp Heynckes’ men were up for the fight and justly prevailed in the end.
The 50,186 capacity crowd at the impressive Grand Stade Lille Metropole saw a tight first half teetering on the dour, as the French team adopted robust tactics to stifle their clearly more skilled opponents. Bayern did take the lead on 20 minutes, but needed a coolly-taken Thomas Müller penalty to do so.
The men from Munich started the second half well enough, but Lille toiled away and slowly grasped the initiative, snuffing out Bayern’s attacking efforts at source and launching a late wave of attacks on Manuel Neuer’s goal. But the Bundesliga leaders held firm and return home on Wednesday with three valuable points.
The important win means Bayern make up at least some of the ground lost on Matchday 2 in the defeat to BATE Borisov, as the Reds remain third in Group F on six points from three matches, but are level on points with both the Belarus champions and new leaders Valencia, 3-0 winners in Minsk in the parallel fixture. The Bavarians return to action on Sunday at home to Bayer Leverkusen in the late afternoon Bundesliga match, with second division Kaiserslautern due in Munich in the cup the following Wednesday.
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