Uefa Cup favourites Bayern Munich can look forward to the quarter-finals after romping to a 5-0 away win against Anderlecht.
German giants romp to first-leg victory
Uefa Cup favourites Bayern Munich can look forward to the quarter-finals after romping to a 5-0 away win in the first leg of their last-16 tie against Anderlecht.
Bayern's star-studded attack ran riot in Brussels after the home side had defender Marcin Wasilewski sent off in the 44th minute.
Hamit Altintop gave Bayern a ninth-minute lead and Anderlecht's hopes of getting back into the tie were dashed when Bayern followed up Wasilewski's red card with a Luca Toni strike in first-half stoppage time.
Lukas Podolski scored 12 minutes after the restart and Miroslav Klose came off the bench to reinforce Bayern's dominance in the 67th minute, before fellow substitute Franck Ribery completed the scoring four minutes from time.
Early opener
Anderlecht started positively with Jan Polak's right-footed effort forcing a fine save from Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing in the fifth minute, but Bayern soon took the lead through Altintop.
The Turkish midfielder spotted Daniel Zitka out of position and stunned the Anderlecht keeper by smashing a superb long-range effort into the top corner.
Anderlecht regrouped and went close again when Polak hit a post from a 21st-minute free-kick, but Bayern remained on top with Mark van Bommel's shot testing Zitka before Podoloski, making a rare start in place of Klose, sent a left-footed effort off-target.
Wasilewski was then given his marching orders after managing to get himself booked twice in three minutes and, two minutes later, Bayern's top scorer Toni volleyed home his seventh goal of the competition from Philipp Lahm's cross.
Strength
Bayern demonstrated the strength of their squad at the start of the second half as they gave Toni and Bastian Schweinsteiger a breather, with prolific Germany striker Klose and French star Ribery coming into the fray.
The Belgians battled gamely with Thomas Chatelle's 57th-minute strike forcing Rensing to tip the ball round his post, but moments later Podloski put Bayern further in front, claiming his fifth goal of the competition with a well-taken left-footed strike.
Klose then got in on the act by converting from Ribery's pull-back, and Argentinian youngster Jose Ernesto Sosa, who replaced Altintop just before the hour mark, almost claimed his first Bayern goal when he was denied by Zitka late on.
But with time running out, Ribery hit a superb free-kick into the top corner to compound Anderlecht's agony and confirm Bayern's status as tournament favourites.
