Classy Bayern beat Fiorentina 3-0
Reuters - Tuesday 21 October 2008, 20:55
MUNICH - Cool finishing and a touch of luck in defence helped Bayern Munich strengthen their grip on Champions League Group F with a 3-0 win over Fiorentina on Tuesday.
Miroslav Klose raced through the middle to open the scoring in the fourth minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger cracked in the second midway through the first half and Ze Roberto made certain of victory in the 90th minute.
While Bayern were lethal in front of goal, they made regular mistakes at the back and were fortunate when Felipe could only shoot weakly when well placed in the first half and Adrian Mutu headed wide from a great position with 15 minutes to go.
With three games played, Bayern lead the group with seven points, ahead of Olympique Lyon on five. Fiorentina have two points and Steaua Bucharest one.
KLOSE CONTROL
Bayern made an aggressive start and had already gone close a couple of times when Luca Toni, playing against his old club, put a flick header into the path of Klose to pick his spot.
The Bavarians kept coming and scored a fine second when Juan Manuel Vargas failed to stop a cross-field pass from Franck Ribery reaching Schweinsteiger, who stepped back inside before shooting across the keeper and in.
Bayern's comfort on the ball contrasted with their nervousness in defence.
Michael Rensing is finding it difficult to establish himself as Oliver Kahn's successor in goal and his poor judgment on crosses would have spelled trouble had Alberto Gilardino been able to react more sharply on two occasions in the first half.
Fiorentina saw more of the ball in the second half but the closest they came to getting back in the game was a 30-metre shot from Zdravko Kuzmanovic that skidded wide, before Mutu's badly directed header let Bayern off the hook again.
Lukas Podolski, on for the injured Toni, went close before Ze Roberto strolled through the defence to round things off.
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