Bayern close in on second round with Fiorentina draw

Bayern Munich have one foot in the Champions League knock-out stages after a come-from-behind 1-1 draw at Fiorentina here on Wednesday night.

Adrian Mutu gave the hosts a deserved first half lead but Tim Borowski was left unattended in the home box after the break to slot home the equaliser.

Bayern join Lyon, 2-0 winners against Steaua Bucharest, on eight points at the top of the table with Fiorentina, on three, needing a minor miracle to qualify for the second round with just two games remaining in Group F.

The Germans' coach Jurgen Klinsmann admitted they could have lost but said he thought the draw was a fair result.

“We're happy to go home with a point, we knew it would be a difficult match,” he said.

“Fiorentina could have won but in the second half we manage to up the tempo. We deserved the draw.

“It's a really important point because it leaves Fiorentina well behind us and now we have a good chance of qualifying from the group.”

Fiorentina's Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo rued the chances missed when the score was 1-1.

“It's always difficult to play against a great team like Bayern Munich,” he told Sky.

“Unfortunately football is like this. If you don't manage to kill off the match you risk being pegged back.

“That's exactly what happened tonight. They didn't look like scoring but they managed to sneak a point.

“Now all we can do is concentrate on beating Lyon and then we'll see what happens.”

Fiorentina took the lead from the first notable attack on 11 minutes as Luciano Zauri sent over a deep cross from the right that Alberto Gilardino flicked on for Mutu, arriving ahead of his marker, to volley home.

Bayern enjoyed as much of the ball as their hosts but La Viola had the clearer chances.

Gilardino got his head to a cross on 20 minutes but it was an easy save for Michael Rensing in the Munich goal.

Seven minutes later another Gilardino header forced Rensing into a spectacular one-handed diving save.

When Bayern did have a chance, it was created by an Italian as former Lazio and AC Milan full-back Massimo Oddo clipped the ball into the box and Bastian Schweinsteiger sliced his volley over the bar.

The Germany forward had another chance just before the break but he thrashed wildly at the opportunity and skewed this effort well wide.

Two minutes after the restart Gilardino had a golden opening as he sprinted onto a ball over the top and lobbed the advancing Rensing but he put too much on the ball and it dropped over the bar.

Still Fiorentina pushed forward trying to kill the game and on 56 minutes Zdravko Kuzmanovic chipped a cross into the box but Mutu headed well over with Riccardo Montolivo better placed behind him.

With a quarter of an hour left Montolivo let fly from distance but after two deflections the ball flew wide.

But just three minutes later Bayern equalised with a soft goal as Franck Ribery's slide-rule pass somehow bypassed a host of ball-watching defenders and fell to Borowski eight yards out to slot home.

Miroslav Klose then beat his man and escaped but he lost his head with the goal gaping and fired over.

Bayern had the better of the late stages as Fiorentina gradually lost belief and paid for trying to sit on their lead.