by Dan Gaichas
Bayern Munich’s chances of finishing atop of Group D evaporated in the Russian cold as they fell, 3-2, to FC Rostov. Combined with Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven, Bayern will be among the second place teams in the Round of 16 draw next month.
Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben, Javi Martinez, Arturo Vidal, and Kingsley Coman all did not travel to Rostov due to varying fitness concerns. With Neuer not in the lineup, it meant a start for Sven Ulreich in goal.
Douglas Costa opened the scoring in the 36th minute pouncing on a poor clearance by Cesar Navas and hitting the roof of the net to put Bayern ahead. However, an errant pass by Costa to Jerome Boateng allowed Sardar Azmoun to come in, round Boateng and beat Ulreich for the equalizer a minute before halftime.
Four minutes into the second half, Rostov were awarded a penalty after Boateng was adjudged to have tripped Christian Noboa in the area. Dmitriy Poloz converted the spot kick to put the Russian side ahead. Bayern answered three minutes later as Franck Ribery picked up the run of Juan Bernat and Bernat would roof it into the net to make it 2-2.
In the 66th minute, Noboa would put Rostov ahead for good with a free kick goal from 20 yards out that evaded the reach of Ulreich for their first-ever win in the Champions League group stage.
“We wanted to win here, we failed at it,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm. “We’re a little too careless at the moment. We have to be aware our opponents might score, and that mistakes will be punished. We make too many of them at the moment. I don’t know why that is, but we must get rid of it as fast as we can. On Saturday the next tough opponents await us.”
Those ‘tough opponents’ come in the form of Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Arena on Saturday at 11:30am CT on FS2.
