Bayern Munich fight back against FC Basel
Bayern Munich resisted FC Basel's strong performance to win the sides' Champions League encounter 2–1 on Tuesday.
Thorsten Fink's home side wasted several chances against the Germans in the first half, and had to pay for their ineffectiveness as Bayern turned up the pressure after the break.
Bastian Schweinsteiger scored from the spot before converting a Holger Badstuber free kick just before stoppage time to earn Bayern another three points.
"Six points out of six was our target before the game and that's what we've achieved," Bayern's Thomas Mueller said after the game. "It was very hard work but we showed we had the right mentality to come
back and that gives us confidence going forward."
Basel dominate before the break
It was the Germans who created the most chances in the opening stages. Philipp Lahm skipped across the field in the 10th minute, slipping the ball to Toni Kroos, whose shot from the left-hand
corner forced a good save from Franco Costanzo.
In the 18th minute, it was Basel who, against the run of play, went ahead after a fine attacking move. Marco Streller held off Daniel Van Buyten's challenge before laying off the ball perfectly for Alexander
Frei, who had made a diagonal run across the box. The Swiss' first-time strike flew into the top corner.
Ten minutes later, Frei hit a dipping free kick that Benjamin Huggel got on the end of, but while his first-time finish found the net, the move was ruled out for offside. Basel midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri
turned quickly outside of the Bayern box in the 39th minute, sending a half-volley towards goal that Hans-Joerg Butt had to stretch to parry.
Bayern finally produced another scoring chance two minutes before the half, but Mark van Bommel's effort from distance was saved and Mueller was offside when he struck the rebound.
Nine minutes into the second half, Mueller was at the centre of attention again, as his turn inside the box led Huggel to foul him. Schweinsteiger stepped up and rolled the resulting spot kick into the
right corner.
Basel, led by the Shaqiri and Streller in attack, seemed intent on getting back into the game after the latter had two efforts saved by Butt around 70 minutes.
Schweinsteiger makes it count for Bayern
But despite the Swiss champions' inspired display, it was Bayern who got the last laugh just two minutes from stoppage time.
Holger Badstuber hit an inswinging free kick towards the edge of the six-yard box, where Schweinsteiger acrobatically steered the ball into the near corner for his second goal of the game.
Bayern now top Group E on six points, while Basel trail both AS Roma and CFR Cluj after losing their first two games.
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