Bayern steamroll Shaktar Donetsk, 7-0, to move on in the Champions League

Bayern made quick work of Shakhtar Donetsk in the second leg of their Champions League tilt at Allianz Arena, turning in a dominating performance to the final tune of 7-0. It was the perfect response from a Bayern Munich side that just one month ago was held scoreless over 90 minutes in the first leg,

Things got started quickly as Mario Götze was fouled in the box on a clear goal scoring opportunity inside of 3 minutes. The referee hesitated for a second before pointing to the spot and giving a red card to Olexander Kucher. The challenge itself wasn't particularly egregious, but it was a denial of a goal scoring opportunity and that's a straight red any day of the week. Thomas Müller took his usual approach to the penalty kick and easily converted to make it 1-0 to Bayern.

There was a bit of a scare in the 19th minute as Arjen Robben had to be subbed off after pulling up a bit lame after a shot attempt. With Shakhtar down to 10 men and the go ahead goal in hand, it was better to be safe than sorry. The good news is that it appears to be a pinched nerve in his hamstring. Still not good, but certainly not as bad as it could have been.

The loss of Robben appeared to have a negligible effect on Bayern's attack. Franck Ribery, and David Alaba generated several runs down the left side into the final third of the pitch. If not for some great last ditch defending early on from Shakhtar, this match could have gotten out of hand a lot more quickly than it did.

Bayern had this match pretty fairly sewn up, but an extra insurance goal eased a lot of nerves among Bayern Munich fans. After several near misses from Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller, Bayern were finally able to break through in the 33rd minute. After a build up that saw seemingly every Bayern player save Manuel Neuer get a touch, a shot by Robert Lewandowski was deflected to a waiting Jerome Boateng for the easy tap in. It was a beautiful team effort.

From there things got a little chippy. An errant elbow from Douglas Costa found the back of Ribery's head which caused Boateng to get up in Costa's face to let him know what he thought of that play. In the end the ref booked both Boateng and Costa which seemed like the right call if only to calm things down on the pitch.

Shortly after the restart, the wheels came off for Shakhtar. Once again, Bayern built up an attack down the left side and a great give and go from David Alaba to Ribery ended with Ribery burying a low shot in the far corner to make it 3-0. Less that two minutes after that goal, Bayern would truly put this game out of reach. Off a build up from Götze and Ribery (who else?) down the left flank, the Frenchmen hit the afterburners in an attempt to chase it down and centered it towards a waiting Lewandowski. Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov got a hand on it, only to deflect it to Thomas Müller who one timed it into the back of the net.

After breaking so many of the opposition's ankles, it seemed only fair for Ribery to receive a knock on one of his own forcing him to be removed and replaced by Juan Bernat. The young Spaniard showed a tremendous pace down the left side and is a testament to just how deep Bayern's squad is. Despite the loss of two their most biggest attacking talisman's, Bayern wasn't through however as in the 63rd minute, it was Holger Badstuber who headed home a long cross from Rafinha to put this game even further out of reach.

The second to last nail would be Robert Lewandowski's to drive home. After having seen shot after shot blocked, saved, or sail just wide, his tenacity and drive to find the back of the net finally paid off. the Polish international found himself on a breakaway off of a great long ball from Bastian Schweinsteiger and buried the low shot past Pyatov. Mario Götze would finish off the scoring for Bayern with the seventh goal of the game less than 10 minutes later.

Bayern completely dominated from start to finish and the scoreline showed it. Bayern had 24 shots to Shakhtar's 3 and Bayern had 68% percent of the posession. It was the kind of game that Bayern should expect to have at home and playing against a 10 man side for 87 minutes. It's got to be nice for manager Pep Guardiola to see his side play to their potential.