Bayern’s road to the final in Madrid (2)

Double trouble against Bordeaux

But in the space of two weeks, Bayern’s solid start had been thrown into turmoil by back-to-back defeats at the hands of French champions Bordeaux. Munich were drawing 1-1 in Bordeaux when Müller received a second yellow card in the 30th minute, and they were reduced to nine men two minutes from the end when Van Buyten saw red as well. “That was not worthy of a top team,” captain Mark van Bommel said of his team’s listless display.

It was to get worse as, without the suspended Van Buyten and Müller, Bayern lost 2-0 to the same opponents two weeks later at the Allianz Arena. With just two group matches left Bayern were bottom of the table with four points, far behind Bordeaux with 10 and Juventus with eight. “We’re not finished, we still have some kind of chance,” Van Gaal said – but to progress his team also needed help from Bordeaux.

Source: FC Bayern