Basler books final berth

Bayern Munich, like Manchester United, kept their dreams of a treble alive when Mario Basler's brilliant strike ended Dynamo …

Bayern Munich, like Manchester United, kept their dreams of a treble alive when Mario Basler's brilliant strike ended Dynamo Kiev's final dream and booked the Germans' berth in Barcelona next month.

The Dynamo players were unfazed by the partisan atmosphere and could have scored twice in the opening minutes but were thwarted by Bayern's goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. First Kahn superbly palmed away a fierce drive by Valentin Belkevich, then showed equally brilliant reflexes to fingertip Alexander Khatskevich's header over the bar following a corner.

Bayern, however, produced the opening goal 10 minutes before half-time. Mario Basler picked the ball up on the right side of Bayern's midfield, cut inside two defenders and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the net beyond a helpless Alexander Shovkovsky.

On the balance of play, Bayern deserved to be ahead at half-time and, inspired by a faultless display from their 38-year-old sweeper Lothar Matthaus, they continued to press at the start of the second half and the Germans should have put the game beyond doubt within 10 minutes of the restart.

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Alexander Zickler screwed his shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat and a couple of minutes later fluffed an even easier chance when he missed from six yards.

Kiev were finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the dual task of trying to score two goals themselves while at the same time keep Bayern out.

With time running out, Bayern took off their tiring strikers Carsten Jancker and Zickler and replaced them with Hasan Salihamidzic and Daei, who almost scored with his first touch, a close-range header that Shovkovsky did well to keep out.

Bayern Munich: Kahn (capt), Matthaus, Babbel, Kuffour, Basler, Effenberg, Jeremies, Linke, Tarnat, Zickler, Jancker.

Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovsky, Luzhny, Vashchuk, Kaladze, Golovko, Gusin, Kosovsky, Khatskevich, Belkevich, Rebrov, Shevchenko.

Referee: Vitor Manuel Melo Pereira.