Justice for Van Buyten

AC Milan 2 - 2 Bayern Munchen

Bayern Munich came away from Milan with 2 valuable away goals to set up an exciting contest in the 2nd leg.

Andrea Pirlo scored first for Milan, showing great reactions and technique to loop a header over the onrushing Michael Rensing from an awkward position. There were definite questions about offsides when the ball was played through, but Pirlo looked to be just on.

The lead didn't last too long however - from a set piece, a misdirected header fell to Daniel Van Buyten about 7 yards in front of goal, and he steered it past the keeper with his left. A neat finish, especially from a giant right-footed central defender, and Bayern were level with about 15 minutes to go.

Milan then regained the lead with some very questionable refereeing. Kaka glided into the box with his usual elegan style, went past a few players, and then headed for the byline. But Van Buyten muscled in and won the ball with a fantastic challenge that looked to have eased the pressure so close to the end. But the referee gave a penalty, cue furious protests from the Bayern players.

Kaka took a long, long time over the penalty, perhaps deciding whether he should miss it or not, but eventually he slotted low to the right, with Rensing going in the absolute opposite direction. You can't blame Kaka at all, he fell over when he was tackled, bounced straight up, and never onced appealed to the referee for anything, and honestly looked quite embarassed when the penalty was given. But he was professional, and scored his 7th goal of this year's Champions League.

Justice was to prevail though, especially for Van Buyten, and in the 93rd minute of the game, the ball once again broke to him in Milan's penalty area, and he took a touch and blasted home a left-footed volley at the near post. It was the last action of the game, and it ended there, 2-2. A very entertaining encounter, and two great left-footed finishes from the big Belgian, Van Buyten, the second of which any striker in the world would have been proud of.