GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Bayern Munich
qualified for the Champions League knockout stage with two games to
spare and eliminated Celtic with a 2-1 win over the Scottish champion,
sealed by Javi Martinez's 77th-minute goal on Tuesday.
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Bayern Munich celebrate their win after their Champions League group B
match between Celtic FC and FC Bayern Munich at Celtic Park, Glasgow,
Tuesday Oct. 31, 2017.
The Spain midfielder headed home a cross by
Kingsley Coman, who opened the scoring for a depleted Bayern team in the
22nd minute at Parkhead after a defensive error from a long ball. The
German club, which has now won six straight matches since the return of
Jupp Heynckes as coach, is guaranteed a top-two finish alongside Paris
Saint-Germain. PSG leads Group B on 12 points, three ahead of Bayern,
with the two teams still to play each other in Munich.
Bayern found it much tougher against Celtic than
two weeks ago, when the five-time European champions ran out easy 3-0
winners. It was to be expected, considering forwards Robert Lewandowski
and Thomas Muller were out injured and Heynckes rested Mats Hummels,
Thiago Alcantara and Joshua Kimmich in view of a Bundesliga match
against Borussia Dortmund at the weekend.
"Last Saturday we had a tough game against a top
side (in Leipzig) and today we had another difficult game. Of course it
takes a lot of energy from the players," Heynckes said. "It's important
that we have qualified, but it's going to be difficult to finish top of
the group."
Celtic
stayed in third place and is looking to seal a Europa League spot ahead
of last-place Anderlecht, which has no points and no goals so far after
a 5-0 loss at PSG on Tuesday. Callum McGregor scored the equalizer for
Celtic in the 74th minute.
"It's a harsh lesson," Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said, "but there are so many positives from the performance."
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