Football
ESPN staff 9y

Bayern didn't need red card help, says Lucescu; Kucher takes full blame

Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu feels defending German champions Bayern Munich didn't need the help of an early red card in the Bavarians' 7-0 drubbing of the Ukranians on Wednesday.

In the third minute, Shakhtar defender Olexandr Kucher chopped down Mario Gotze in his own box, awarding Bayern a penalty that kicked off the Allianz club's rout.

"I do not think that Bayern needed such assistance as early as in the second minute. It is necessary to see whether it was a penalty case," he said after the match. "But they shouldn't have shown a red card anyway. From that moment on, our team should have probably had ten Germans instead of ten Brazilians! We lost in terms of the aspects in which Bayern were actually stronger than us: character, tactics and individual challenges-wise.

Bayern piled on the pressure, and the goals, throughout, including for their third, when Darijo Srna was receiving treatment off the pitch.

"The game was over after the third goal, when Srna was off, getting medical assistance, while Bayern scored the third goal. It's impossible to play short-handed and lose the ball so easily," the Romanian continued. "The opponents notched three goals against us on the counter! This mustn't have happened, we had to play in a more compact way. We have no excuse. But I am upset by the fact that big teams, as always, get some help."

Kucher, for his part, knew there was no escaping what he'd done.

"I wanted to play the ball, but did not get on it. I would not say that there was some sort of contact. Mario Gotze competently fell and the referee awarded a penalty kick. I think the situation didn't demand a red card.

"Yes, Mister supported me. I'd like to thank him. But it does not absolve me of responsibility. Of course, it's hard to play 90 minutes with ten men against one of the best teams in the world. I think that I'm fully to blame for this result of the match."

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