Bayern Munich display against Celtic hampered by busy match schedule, says Vincent Kompany

MUNICH – Bayern Munich’s busy match schedule affected their performance in the 1-1 home draw against Celtic on Feb 18, coach Vincent Kompany said after his team needed a stoppage-time equaliser to squeeze through to the Champions League round of 16.

The German giants qualified 3-2 on aggregate in their play-off but only after struggling against the Scottish champions, who had the better chances and took the lead in the 63rd minute through Nicolas Kuhn, a former Bayern reserve player.

The hosts needed a last-gasp goal from Alphonso Davies to seal their spot in the next round following last week’s 2-1 victory in Glasgow.

Bundesliga leaders Bayern travelled to Celtic on Feb 12 before visiting reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen on Feb 15 for the league’s top-of-the-table clash, where they played out a goal-less draw.

“We always talked about how many matches we have in six days,” Kompany said.

“It is simple. The first half could have been better, the second half was good. We had chances and could have scored more goals.

“But it is not easy to get through such a programme. You have to see it in this context. Our goal is for performance and results to match, starting Sunday.”

Bayern, who have an eight-point lead over second-placed Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, could be without Harry Kane on Feb 23 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, who are five points further back in third, with the striker taken off at half-time.

“We were in Glasgow on Wednesday. Then Leverkusen. Big energy output. It is normal after the second game to take an extra day to recover,” Kompany added.

“He (Kane) gave the thumbs up this morning. But during the game he felt like he wasn’t fully able to help the team. We did not want to take the extra risk.

“How long or if he is injured, I still don’t know.”

Kane, on his part, said he was likely to miss the Frankfurt game as he revealed that he had suffered a calf problem.

“We’ll have a scan and then we’ll see. I’m not sure if I can play against Frankfurt on Sunday,” the 31-year-old said, adding that a jaw injury he suffered in the Leverkusen match was still troubling him.

Bayern, meanwhile, will find out their last-16 opponents when the draw is made on Feb 21, and it will be either Leverkusen or Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

It was a heartbreaking way for Celtic to go out of the competition, but the Scottish side will take heart from their showing over the two legs.

“It never looked like we were going to concede the goal that we did and sadly for us, we did. I can only take immense pride from the performance and the guys gave everything,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.

In Lisbon, Benfica drew 3-3 at home with Monaco to win their play-off 4-3 on aggregate and go through to play either Barcelona or Liverpool next.

Having won 1-0 in Monaco last week, the Portuguese giants extended their aggregate lead when Kerem Akturkoglu opened the scoring on the night midway through the first half.

Monaco came roaring back with Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir netting either side of half-time.

Vangelis Pavlidis scored a penalty, his seventh goal in his last six Champions League games, to make it 2-2 on the night, only for substitute George Ilenikhena to hit back for Monaco.

However, the tie swung decisively back towards Benfica as Orkun Kokcu made it 3-3 on the night on 84 minutes.

“It was a tough night. We knew Monaco would put pressure on us from the start and we felt it, we didn’t play our best game,” Kokcu told broadcaster Sport TV.

Elsewhere, teenage starlet Chemsdine Talbi scored twice as Club Brugge claimed a 3-1 victory away to Atalanta in Italy to win their tie 5-2 on aggregate.

The Belgian’s brace was followed by a superb Ferran Jutgla strike as Club Brugge built on their 2-1 win at home in last week’s first leg and advanced to a last-16 tie against either Lille or Aston Villa.

Atalanta had 29 attempts on goal but were punished on the break by the Belgian side and Ademola Lookman’s reply at the start of the second half was scant consolation. REUTERS, AFP