Ten-man Bayern Munich resisted a late comeback from Manchester City to take all three points away from the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola’s men sparkled for the majority of the game with Arjen Robben particularly brilliant but were almost undone when Jerome Boateng was dismissed following Alvaro Negredo’s consolation strike.
However, the Bavarian giants weathered the storm and fully deserved their eventual win.
City looked to take the game to Bayern early on and Manuel Neuer was forced into action in the second minute.
A searching ball forward from Matija Nastasic threatened to set Sergio Aguero through on goal, but the Germany goalkeeper sprinted off his line to clear the danger.
The away side soon took advantage of their stopper’s heroics, as they took the lead five minutes later.
A cross-field Rafinha pass found Ribery on the left flank and the Frenchman cut inside onto his right foot and rifled a low 25-yard effort past Joe Hart and into the bottom corner.
The home side managed to quell the Bayern tide for the rest of the second half, but Bayern doubled their advantage in the 55th minute.
A superb cross-field pass from Dante found Thomas Muller unmarked, and the German rounded Hart before firing home.
However, Bayern were far from satisfied and Robben made it 3-0 on the hour mark.
The Dutchman surged down the right flank and squeezed a shot past Hart at the near post.
City soon had something positive to cheer, as Negredo reduced the deficit in the 80th minute.
The substitute collected a delightful pass from David Silva with his back to goal and managed to turn and fire past Neuer to give the Etihad faithful hope of a stunning comeback.
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