Roma goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis fails to make a save during the Group E Champions League soccer match between Roma and Bayern Munich
Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich lineup is finally starting to resemble his Barcelona team that revolutionized football not too long ago. Arjen Robben scored twice as Bayern routed Roma 7-1 on Tuesday for a club-record away win in the Champions League, showing the German club is once again among the favorites to take the title.
Having taken target practice in a 6-0 rout of Werder Bremen at the weekend, it was more of the same from Bayern early on at the Stadio Olimpico with five goals in the first half.
“It seemed like watching Barcelona again, with small, rapid players running all over the place,” Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi said.
Robben put the 2013 champion ahead nine minutes in with an expertly curled shot from a tough angle, before Germany’s World Cup hero Mario Goetze doubled the lead in the 23rd and Robert Lewandowski made it 3-0 in the 25th.
Again taking advantage of poor defense from Ashley Cole, Robben scored his second goal on the half-hour and then Thomas Mueller added a penalty in the 35th after Kostas Manolas was whistled for a handball at the edge of the area.
Gervinho pulled one back for Roma in the 66th, 10 minutes after hitting the post, but then substitutes Franck Ribery and Zherdan Shaqiri added more goals for Bayern. Bayern’s previous biggest away win in the Champions League was a 5-0 victory at Sporting Lisbon in the first knockout round in 2009.
Guardiola took over Bayern last season and, although he secured the Bundesliga title, his club lost on 5-0 aggregate to Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals.
“Last season we had the legs but not the mindset,” Guardiola said. “We needed to decide things a split-second quicker and now we’re doing that.”
The transfer of midfielder Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid has added more Spanish flavor to Bayern. “He’s one of the most intelligent players I’ve coached,” Guardiola said.
The outcome matched Roma’s heaviest defeat in the competition, a 7-1 loss at Manchester United in the 2007 quarterfinals.
“This is a fluke,” Guardiola said. “It’s not normal to win 7-1.” Bayern has nine points atop Group E, five clear of Roma. Manchester City has two points and CSKA Moscow one.
Earlier, City wasted a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw in Moscow. “The only good news tonight came from City and CSKA, which allowed us to stay second in the group,” said Roma coach Rudi Garcia, who took responsibility for erring in his tactics and acknowledged that his squad should have sat back more.
“Tonight they were better than us. We were spectators,” Garcia added. “It shows us we have a way to go to reach the level of the world’s top squads.”
Bayern’s win extended the unbeaten streak for Josep Guardiola’s club to 12 matches in all competitions, with the last loss to Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup in mid-August.
pope praises bayern munich after roma rout
Pope Francis has welcomed the victorious Bayern Munich team to the Vatican after its 7-1 Champions League rout of Roma, telling the players they “played a wonderful game” and receiving a signed jersey in return. CEO Karl Heinz Rummenigge said it was “a great honor” for the German club and announced Bayern would donate one million euros in proceeds from a future friendly match to the pope for charitable purposes. Rumminegge told Francis it would be up to him to use the money “to help people in need wherever they are in the world and regardless of their faith,” the team’s website said. The soccer-mad Francis has received several visiting teams and has a collection of signed jerseys. The private audience occurred before yesterday’s general audience. Andrew Dampf, Rome , AP
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