Bayern Munich vs. Shakhtar Donetsk, 2015 Champions League: Bavarians win huge

Shakhtar Donetsk’s day got off to just about the worst start possible. In the 3rd minute Olexandr Kucher made a rash challenge on Mario Götze in the area, leading the referee to award not only a penalty, but show Kucher a straight red, apparently for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity. Was it a penalty? Yeah. Was it a red card? Absolutely not, but it left the visitors down both a goal and a man as Thomas Müller scored his penalty kick.

Bayern doubled their lead, and locked up a place in the quarterfinals in the 34th minute when Jerome Boateng finished off a rebound at the near post to make it 2-0. Müller had he initial chance, firing a headed down ball right at Andriy Pyatov from inside the penalty spot. The Shakhtar keeper made the save, but the ball went off his hand and right to Boateng for the tap-in goal.

Bayern and Shakhtar were scoreless after the first leg, but a penalty in the third minute allowed the Germans to take the lead after Olexandr Kucher brought down Mario Götze, earning the Shakhtar defender a straight red card for his troubles. Thomas Müller converted the penalty, giving the Germans a 1-0 lead on the day and a 1-0 lead in the aggregate score as well.