Lucky seven: FC Bayern Munich advance to Champions League Quarterfinal

A 7-0 trouncing of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League round of 16 second leg has ensured FC Bayern Munich a spot in the quarterfinals. Both of Bayern’s domestic campaigns are on track as well.

After drawing 0-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 on the road against Shakhtar Donetsk, head coach Pep Guardiola was approaching Wednesday’s second leg home match with the Ukrainian side with a degree of caution. A sensible tactic, but it took only three minutes to see that Bayern would have no problem dusting up their opponents.

Getting in shape: How FCB prepped for the second half

A foul in the penalty area led to a red card for Shakhtar defender Olexandr Kucher, who tripped up Mario Götze on his way to the goal. Thomas Müller converted the penalty for the home side, and the tone was set for a typical Bayern Munich goal-fest.

Down a man, Shakhtar Donetsk could only look on in despair as Bayern chalked up six more goals over the course of the match. Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery, Holger Badstuber, Robert Lewandowski, and Mario Götze got in on the scoring, with Müller adding one more goal to his early penalty. His second goal in the 51st minute put him even with former German national player Mario Gomez for the most total goals scored by a German in the Champions League (26).

Cup and league campaigns

Domestically, Bayern Munich’s dominance remains unchallenged. Last week they made short work of Eintracht Braunschweig in the German Cup, winning 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Their next opponent will be fellow Champions League participants Bayer Leverkusen on April 8.

Bayern’s lead in the Bundesliga is still a very comfortable 11 points over second-place Wolfsburg and a whopping 20 points over second-place Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Despite stumbling a bit at the start of the second half of the season (losing 4-1 to Wolfsburg and drawing 1-1 with Schalke), Bayern quickly steadied the ship and have won five straight since, including an 8-0 undressing of Hamburg and a 6-0 thrashing of Paderborn on the road.

Their next match in the Bundesliga sees Bayern face Werder Bremen on the road.

Familiar face

While Bayern clearly have momentum on their side, Pep Guardiola’s side will be looking to secure every advantage they can get as the later stages of each competition approach. That includes the return of Philipp Lahm to the squad after a broken ankle sustained in November.

Lahm was on the bench for the Champions League match against Shakhtar but has returned to training with the squad and will slowly see his playing time increase.

After accompanying Bayern Munich on a Champions League road trip to Rome and to the team’s winter training camp in Qatar, DHL will continue following the squad on their quest to claim all three titles in their active campaigns in 2015. Stay tuned to DHL InMotion for all the latest!