Boisterous Bayern Sail Past Sorry Celtic In Munich
Three goals for Bayern Munich were enough to seal all three points for Jupp Heynckes in his first European game back at The Allianz Arena against a lifeless Celtic side.
The home side struck twice in the first period through Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich, before Mats Hummels headed a third in the second half to put the tie to bed.
Victory for the German Giants sees them retain second place in Group B, behind the early pace-setters PSG who have a 100% record, and defeated Bayern on Matchday Two.
Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers’ men headed to Germany in third position after an impressive 0-3 victory in Brussels last time out and that is where they stayed with defeat in Munich.
From the start, Jupp Heynckes made only one change from Saturday’s 5-0 Bundesliga thrashing of Freiburg as Sebastian Rudy replaced injured Javi Martinez in the centre of the park.
Elsewhere for the hosts, there were starts for star striker Robert Lewandowski, electric winger Kingsley Coman, and Dutch veteran Arjen Robben.
Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers decided on four altercations from the slightly less glamorous 1-0 victory over Dundee at Celtic Park over the weekend.
In goal, Craig Gordon came in for Dorus de Vries, while Mikael Lustig replaced Nir Bitton, skipper Scott Brown was Eboue Kouassi’s replacement, Stuart Armstrong came in for Callum McGregor.
So, with the teams ready, Celtic’s quest for a giant-killing could begin in the German Capital, but it would soon become clear that it wasn’t a night for David and Goliath.
After 17 minutes of unrelenting pressure, Kimmich picked out Lewandowski with a superb ball and although Gordon did get a hand to his precise header, he could only steer it directly into the path of Muller who was never going to miss from there.
It was soon looking like another rout was on the cards for the home side as they finally found an inevitable second on 29 minutes.
This time, Kimmich would turn provider to scorer, on hand to convert a Coman cross with a looping header of the highest quality that buried in the far top corner.
Shambolic defending would cost the away side yet again after half-time when, after just six minutes of the second period, Mats Hummels rose to head Robben’s corner home and secure three points for his side.
However, things wouldn’t be as plain sailing for the hosts after their third as The Bhoys started to find some rhythm and came closest to finding a way back into the tie when Kieran Tierney struck the post with a long-range effort.
However, there would be no dramatic comeback and the home side would hold onto a much-needed empathic victory over the Scots as they pull three points clear of their opponents.
Next up for Bayern will be a Saturday night trip to face Hamburg, whereas, Celtic will go toe to toe with Hibernian on the same day at Easter Road in The Scottish League Cup.
Next time out in The Champions League, these two sides will meet for the return fixture at Celtic Park at the end of next month, will Bayern continue their dominance? Or, can Celtic cause a shock?