Home Sports Toni stars in Bayern’s UEFA Cup win

Toni stars in Bayern’s UEFA Cup win

By DPA

Hamburg : Italian Luca Toni netted four goals as Bayern Munich eased into the last 32 of the UEFA Cup with a 6-0 demolition of Aris Saloniki.

The Bundesliga leaders only needed a draw Wednesday to progress to the knockout phase but were assured victory after two first-half howlers from Aris and Greece goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias were ruthlessly punished by the Italian striker.

Toni secured his hat-trick in the 64th minute and added a fourth two minutes later when Chalkias could only parry Philipp Lahm’s shot into his path.

Further goals from Christian Lell and Lahm completed the scoring for Bayern, who finish top of Group F with eight points.

English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers, who had already completed their four group matches, also qualify from the group with six points and are joined by SC Braga, who beat Red Star Belgrade 2-0 thanks to goals in each half from Roland Linz and Wender.

Although the three qualifying places in Group E were already settled with Spartak Moscow, Zurich and Bayer Leverkusen all through, German side Leverkusen secured top spot with a 5-0 victory over Zurich.

Vratislav Gresko opened the scoring for Leverkusen from a free kick on 19 minutes and Dmitriy Bulykin doubled the lead four minutes later.

Tranquillo Barnetta headed home a Stefan Kiessling pass five minutes after the restart and Bulykin netted his second goal of the game shortly before the hour mark. Kiessling completed the rout 10 minutes from time. In the other group match, Spartak went down 2-1 to Toulouse.

Spanish side Getafe secured top spot from Group G with a 2-1 defeat of Anderlecht, who still qualify despite the loss as Hapoel Tel Aviv surprisingly went down 3-1 at home to Aalborg. Tottenham Hotspur were already assured of qualification from the group.

Bordeaux maintained their 100 percent record in Group H, securing top spot in the process, with a 3-2 win away to Panionios. The loss means the Greek side miss out on qualification to Galatasary, who got the point they needed with a scoreless draw against Austria Vienna. Helsinborgs had already qualified.

The final round of UEFA Cup group matches continues Thursday with encounters in groups A to D.

The 24 qualifiers from the eight groups will be joined by eight third-placed teams in the group phase of the Champions League for the round of 32, a knock-out stage over two legs, with first games to be played on Feb 13 and 14.