Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller and Philippe Coutinho on target as Bayern finish with perfect record
Thursday 12 December 2019 06:15, UK
Bayern Munich ended the Champions League group stages with a perfect record after a convincing 3-1 victory over Tottenham at the Allianz Arena.
With Bayern and Spurs already assured of a spot in the last 16, the final assignment in Group B was reduced to a dead rubber, but Bayern were in no mood to take their foot off the gas against the side they scored seven past in October.
Kingsley Coman slotted Bayern in front on 12 minutes, and although they were pegged back within four minutes by Ryan Sessegnon's first Spurs goal, efforts from Thomas Muller and Philippe Coutinho saw the five-time European champions outmuscle a timid Tottenham side.
The victory sees Bayern become the seventh side to win all of their group games in the competition, with attention now turning to Monday's Champions League draw, where group winners Bayern and runners-up Spurs await their fate in the knockout stage.
With their passage to the knockout stage already secure, both sides made a combined 11 changes ahead of their final group-stage outing.
Bayern were the dominant force in front of their own fans, patiently examining the Spurs defence before coming alive in attack on 12 minutes.
Benjamin Pavard's back-post volley was saved on the line by Paulo Gazzaniga, who showed quick reflexes to get back to his feet to prevent Thiago Alcantara from converting the rebound.
But there was nothing the Spurs goalkeeper could do two minutes later when Serge Gnabry's cross deflected into Coman's path, and the Frenchman slotted Bayern into the lead.
But Spurs were behind for just four minutes, an intricate move ended with the ball rolling into the path of 19-year-old Sessegnon, who capped his first start for Spurs and in the Champions League by rifling home at the near post.
Bayern lost goalscorer Coman to a nasty-looking knee injury on 25 minutes, and shortly afterwards, Thiago missed a glorious chance to restore their lead when he somehow fired wide after Gnabry's shot rebounded off the post and into his lap.
But Coman's replacement, Muller, lifted the mood with a poacher's goal, poking his 198th goal for the club home after Alphonso Davies's shot bounced off the frame of the Spurs goal.
Gazzaniga denied Coutinho a stunning quick-fire second, tipping the Brazilian's long-range effort onto the crossbar on the stroke of half-time.
Coutinho would go on to register five shots on goal, three of which were on target, before he finally got his reward, curling a low effort beyond the outstretched arm of Gazzaniga to put the seal on a brilliant campaign for Bayern.
Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho: "Today wasn't a question of being or not being ready. Today was the very difficult situation of playing a game and preparing [for] a game where you put more emphasis on the players that rest than the players that play and the result you are fighting for. That's very difficult and I try to hide that feeling from the players, but the players are intelligent guys and they understand clearly my focus was not on today my focus is on what's next."
Both clubs await their fate in Monday's draw for the last-16 of the Champions League. Before that, Bayern host Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga at 2.30pm on Saturday, while Spurs travel to Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday at 2pm.
