Bayern Munich’s Xabi Alonso was sent off in his 100th Champions League appearance as the German side were held to a scoreless draw by Shakhtar Donetsk in the last-16 first leg-clash on Tuesday.
Alonso picked up his second booking after 65 minutes but Bayern comfortably held on to secure a positive result in a first leg, played out in sub-zero temperatures in Lviv.
The Bundesliga champions will have a chance to complete the job in three weeks’ time, in Munich.
Coach Pep Guardiola seemed relieved they survived an ill-tempered encounter in Ukraine.
Shakhtar Donetsk had not played a competitive match since the last group game, on December 10, and was forced to host this game in Lviv, near the Polish border, more than 1,200 kilometres from the club’s Donbass Arena, due to ongoing violence in the east of the country.
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But they successfully stifled the German visitors, who had come into the match brimming with confidence following an 8-0 win over Hamburg at the weekend.
Bayern almost got an away goal after only two minutes, when Arjen Robben clipped a ball into Bastian Schweinsteiger who hooked wide from inside the penalty area.
After 11 minutes, Robben created another good opportunity when his reverse pass picked out the run of Thomas Muller inside the penalty area.
From a tight angle, Muller prodded the ball past keeper Andriy Pyatov but did not find the net.
The home team dug in after that and rarely looked threatened despite allowing Bayern 70 per cent possession in the opening 30 minutes.
After 24 minutes, Alonso picked up his first booking and Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer almost fumbled the free-kick that followed into Douglas Costa’s path.
Just past the half hour Bayern created another opening.
Shakhtar coughed up possession in front of their own penalty area, allowing Franck Ribery and Muller to combine to good effect.
Muller slid in to connect with Ribery’s neat cutback but the German international could not steer his strike from the penalty spot on target.
Shakhtar contained the German league leaders until half time and a scrappy second half came to life only when Ribery and Costa were involved in an altercation after a foul by Darijo Srna.
A few minutes later, Costa was lucky to escape with only a yellow card after his elbow caught the Bayern midfielder flush in the face.
The commitment of both sides was illustrated just past the hour when Alonso and Shakhtar’s Luiz Adriano both called for treatment when they collided near the centre circle.
Alonso’s luck ran out when he was shown a second yellow card for hauling down Alex Teixeira.
Six other players were booked in a hard-fought game, with Ribery coming in for particularly rough treatment, but Shakhtar never looked like taking advantage of the extra man.
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