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Heynckes: Vida’s early dismissal helped Bayern Munich in rout of Besiktas

Five-time winners Bayern are on course to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for a seventh successive year.

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Jupp Heynckes admitted Bayern Munich’s 5-0 Champions League rout of Besiktas was given a helping hand by Domagoj Vida’s early dismissal.

Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski each scored twice for Bayern, while Kingsley Coman was also on target as their 14th successive win in all competitions moved Heynckes’ side to the brink of the quarter-finals for the seventh straight season.

Besiktas went through the group stages unbeaten but their task in Bavaria became all the more difficult when last man Vida upended Lewandowski outside the box in the 16th minute.

“It’s very difficult for any team to play in the Champions League with 10 men,” Heynckes said in quotes published on uefa.com.

“I still believe Besiktas are a very good team, with many experienced players that have played across Europe. I’m very happy that we won so comfortably against such a team.

“We will still prepare as normal for the return leg. You cannot take any risks in the Champions League.”

Bayern did not make the breakthrough until the 43rd minute when Muller swivelled to poke home from close range, but they were relentless after the interval to sew up the tie before the return leg in Istanbul.

Lewandowski set up Coman to make it 2-0 and after Muller applied a near-post finish to Joshua Kimmich’s cross, Lewandowski scored twice late on in a comprehensive victory for the five-time champions.

“I think we saw two different halves,” Heynckes added.

“In the first half there wasn’t any tempo to our game, our passing was off and it allowed Besiktas to attack us more.

“The opener before the break gave us a psychological advantage and in the second half we saw a different Bayern team.

“We scored some great goals and played some good football. Of course I’m satisfied with the performance.”

Besiktas boss Senol Gunes admitted his game plan went out of the window as soon as Vida was sent off.

“Our opponent was better than us,” he said.

“We would have liked to play better and even win, but after the sending off it became too difficult for us.

“We suffered physically and mentally and they took advantage of that in the second half.

“We tried to limit the damage and focus on the second half, but we couldn’t manage it.

“We are an attacking team, but we had to defend. We couldn’t play our football because our opponents were too strong.

“We did not deserve a result. After the red card, we completely lost the control over the game. We tried to resist, but after conceding the first goal, they were very comfortable.

“They are a good team, playing with seriousness no matter the score. We wanted to show a better performance, but it was not to be.”

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