Bayern kill off Basle hopes

Goalkeeper Thomas Kraft made a trio of crucial saves before Franck Ribery fired the hosts ahead in the 35th minute and Anatoliy Tymoschuk added a quickfire second. Ribery added his second and Bayern's third early in the second half in a match Basle had to win to have any hope of ousting Roma in second place. Thorsten Fink's team will now have to settle for a spot in the last 32 of the Europa League. For Bayern it was a fifth win in six Group E matches, a stark contrast to their Bundesliga form where they are 17 points off leaders Borussia Dortmund. Basle predictably started the brightest and Alexander Frei's excellent lofted pass picked out Xherdan Shaqiri's dash into the right side of the box in the ninth minute, but Kraft managed to parry away his low shot. Toni Kroos dragged a left-foot shot wide from 25 yards after 15 minutes and Mark van Bommel tried his luck from distance for Bayern with a drilled right-foot effort which only just cleared Franco Costanzo's crossbar. Costanzo did well to field a snap-shot from Kroos and then Kraft got down well to turn wide a curling shot from Frei which threatened to creep in at the near post. Kraft then repeated his earlier heroics as Marco Streller raced clear, but as with Shaqiri earlier the goalkeeper stood up well and made a block with his legs. It was a vital stop, because seconds later Bayern were ahead. Diego Contento was instrumental in the goal as he clipped the ball down the left flank, but Kroos' return pass seemed destined to drift out for a goal kick. However, Contento would not give it up and somehow kept the ball in before cutting it back to Ribery, whose shot could not be kept out by defender David Abraham on the line. Just two minutes later it was 2-0 when Kroos' corner was helped on by the head of Mario Gomez and Tymoschuk volleyed home inside the six-yard box. Bayern were oozing confidence now and Kroos flashed a right-foot shot just wide as the half entered its last five minutes. Basle were chasing the game now and leaving gaps in behind, and Ribery should have done better than blast over the top after he and Gomez had gone clear two against one. The third goal which killed off Basle arrived five minutes into the second half as Thomas Muller raced away down the right and picked out Ribery's late run into the box, and the Frenchman sidefooted a low shot beyond the reach of Costanzo into the bottom corner. It took an incredible double save from Costanzo to first keep out Contento and then Bastian Schweinsteiger with a reflex block at point-blank range. Basle's frustration was encapsulated in a rash, late challenge by Frei on Contento in the 73rd minute which earned the veteran forward the first booking of the match. Gomez was denied the chance to join Samuel Eto'o as the competition's top scorer on seven goals when Costanzo saved his downward header from a corner with his feet. Substitute Hamit Altintop blasted a shot over the bar with 10 minutes to go after Costanzo pushed out Philipp Lahm's low cross and Gomez fired a right-foot shot over from the edge of the box in injury time.