Bayern Munich assured that a German side will compete for Europe’s top prize for the first time in eight years on Tuesday, getting a hat trick from Ivica Olic in a surprisingly sure 3-0 road win over Lyon in the UEFA Champions League semifinal at Stade de Gerland.
Bayern captured the first leg 1-0 in Munich last week and showed few symptoms of a hangover on the cusp of reaching the title match, thanks in large part to Olic’s finish off a scramble in the 26th minute that put the French hosts on the hot seat for much of the match.
The Croatian then all but sealed the deal in the 66th with a left-footed strike after taking a feed into the box from Hamit Altintop, and flicked a header past Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the 78th minute for his seventh goal of the tournament.
The final tally tied Olic for second among the leading scorers in the Champions League this year with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and just behind Barcelona phenom Lionel Messi (8).
It could be Messi and his Barcelona mates who stand in the way of Bayern Munich’s first Champions League title since 2001. Barcelona host Inter Milan in the second leg of their high-profile semifinal series on Wednesday at the Camp Nou, with the Spanish side facing a 3-1 deficit on aggregate after Inter’s decisive win last week in Milan.
Bayern Munich become the first German club to reach the final since Bayern Leverkusen lost to Real Madrid in 2002. Since then, the tournament has been largely uneventful for German fans, who have watched teams from four other European nations win the title.
Bayern Munich will seek their fifth Champions League crown in franchise history.
Lyon was attempting to become the first French squad to reach the final since Monaco lost to Porto in 2004, but it wasn’t meant to be. Olic found space in the Lyon box in the 26th minute after a pullback from Thomas Müller, and coolly found the back of the net to quickly put Lyon on their heels.
It didn’t get much easier for the hosts in the 59th minute, when defender Cris was given a yellow card for an apparently errant tackle on Olic. The Brazilian was immediately critical of the call and sarcastically applauded the caution, which earned him a second yellow and a trip to the showers with the result still very much in doubt.
Olic put rest that almost immediately, however, thanks to a left-footed blast in the 66th minute that sucked the life of the Stade de Gerland crowd. He added a third on a header off a Philipp Lahm cross for insurance, vaulting the German side onto bigger things at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid on May 22.
