Bayern Munich have secured qualification to the UEFA Champions League next round after convincingly beating Steaua Bucharest 3-0 at Allianz Arena on Tuesday. The Bavarians' goals all came in the second half thanks to a Miroslav Klose brace (57,71) and a Luca Toni header on 61 minutes. Throughout a drab first half, the visitors were more than happy to defend and earn an away draw, while Bayern seemed out of options against the Romanian resilience. After the interval, Bayern were transformed, and it was a matter of time before they found the back of the net. They broke the deadlock after Massimo Oddo ended a good run from the flank with a cross in the Steaua box, Ribery's header found Klose who volleyed from close range to score his team's first. Jurgen Klinsmann's men were cruising after the opener, and four minutes later Ribery's chip was cleverly headed down towards Toni by Klose, the Italian striker bravely dived to head past Robinson Zapata. Ribery was causing the Steaua defense all sorts of troubles. On 71 minutes he was allowed a long run from midfield before the Frenchman's pass released Klose through to add his second of the game and third goal in this year's Champions League. Also in Group F, Fiorentina lost any hope of making the second phase after getting beaten by Lyon 2-1 at Artemio Franchi.
Lyon took the home side by surprise right from the start, and on 15 minutes the Fiorentina defense were caught napping when they allowed Benzema to run on the left edge of the box. The striker squared to the unguarded Jean Makoun who hit a low shot past Sebastien Frey. The French champions could have notched a second seven minutes later, but Juninho was unlucky to see his long-range effort rattle off the cross bar. On 27 minutes, Ricardo Montolivo gave the ball away to Benzema who capitalized by taking on Dario Dainelli before hitting a well-placed shot in the bottom corner of the Fiorentina net. Just before the half time whistle, Alberto Gilardino got the home side back in the tie after brilliantly rising to meet Mario Santana's cross with a powerful header to score Fiorentina's first. In the second half, the Lyon defense stood their ground and prevented Fiorentina from producing any goal scoring opportunities to win the game. Both Bayern and Lyon are now guaranteed a place in the second stage as the Germans are top of Group F with eleven points with Lyon in second with 9. Fiorentina and Steaua will be fighting for a UEFA Cup place in the group's final round as they are left third and fourth respectively.
