UEFA Cup 2007–08: Bayern Munich vs. Bolton Wanderers

November 8, 2007

Bayern Munich and drew 2-2 today.

Bolton Wanderers opened the scoring after only eight minutes when scored on a deflected shot. After taking 15 minutes to settle in, Bayern Munich started to attack more frequently and it paid dividends after 30 minutes when Lukas Podolski equalized. Early in the 2nd half Bayern Munich took the lead when Podolski got his 2nd goal of the game. However, with 8 minutes left, Bolton equalized which earned Bolton's 2nd point in the group stage while Bayern lead Group F with 4 points. If Bayern Munich wins their next UEFA Cup match, they are all but assured their place in the next round.

Post-match Quotes
We were unlucky to go a goal behind so early, that was exactly what Bolton wanted, because it let them sit back and defend. But we recovered well and piled on the pressure, thanks to the outstanding Ribery. After we went 2-1 up we seemed poised to get a third, we basically had the match totally under control – apparently so much under control that some of my players thought we could relax. Then we went and conceded a totally unnecessary equaliser after a throw-in. That goes down as two points dropped, but I’m still confident we can win the group.“

We kept on attacking, but we forgot that teams in Europe are capable of scoring at any time. It was carelessness pure and simple, and a lack of total concentration. You can’t afford that in Europe, you have to concentrate right to the end.“

We had plenty of chances before and after the break, but we simply didn’t make the most of them. Then we went to sleep for a moment. But we’ve got to turn our attention to the future, we’re in action again the day after next. We need to come away with something from Stuttgart.“

 (Bolton): “We were missing twelve players tonight, but we still showed Bayern very little respect. But I have to say they’ve got world-class players all over the field, and they’re a really strong side. We didn’t have as many chances as our opponents, but we had a couple of good ones, and our application at the end was terrific. I especially want to single out our captain Kevin Nolan, he kept on driving us forward.“