Lyon v Bayern Munich

Posted Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by BBC.com

Lyon v Bayern Munich Bayern were initially off the pace in the Bundesliga before a key win over Eintracht Frankfurt in October - defender Daniel van Buyten scored the winner after being pushed into attack by Van Gaal - kickstarted their title push.

Bayern also made hard work of escaping their Champions League group after losing twice to Bordeaux, with Van Gaal's side only qualifying for the knockout stages by beating Juventus 4-1 in Turin.

And after going 3-0 down in the first half of their second-leg quarter-final tie against Manchester United they looked to be on their way out, before an Ivica Olic strike and stunning volley by Robben sealed their progress to the last four.

Woodcock points out that Bayern, despite the FC Hollywood moniker, are that rarity in modern football in that the club's powerbrokers are ex-footballers rather than businessmen.

"Their strength is that they have people from a football background - [Germany internationals] Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness, Gerd Muller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge - who've played the game at the highest level and know what they want.

"They really want to push the history of Bayern Munich to the public, to Europe, to the world. They want success and they want to be top of the tree."

First, they must see off Lyon - and they must do that without Ribery, who is suspended after being red-carded during the first leg for a foul on defender Cris.

Woodcock insists Franck Ribery's absence should not be a telling factor.

"Bayern have got a good squad," said the ex-England international.

"I'm sure they're going to compensate for Ribery in some form. Of course, it would be great to have Ribery, but if that's not the case they are still going to go out there and give it their all."

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