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UEFA Champions League: Bayern edge through as Rapid miss late penalty [Thu Sep 15th, 2005]
Vienna (Reuters) - Bayern Munich survived a late penalty scare to edge past a feisty Rapid Vienna side 1-0 in their opening UEFA Champions League Group A match.
Peruvian striker Jose Paolo Guerrero scored the only goal in the 60th minute, but Jozef Valachovic wasted a chance to equalise when he shot wide from the spot eight minutes from time.
Bayern's winner came after Roy Makaay's header from a Lucio cross was superbly saved by Rapid keeper Helge Payer, only for Guerrero's scuffed shot from the rebound to crawl over the line.
Despite the missed penalty, awarded for a non-existent foul on substitute Muhammet Akagunduz, Rapid coach Josef Hickersberger conceded that the better team had won.
"I think we played a really good match but Bayern were the better team -- there is no doubt," he told Austrian state ORF television. "But we had our chances and should have taken the lead."
The German visitors had the lion's share of possession, but Rapid regularly looked dangerous on the counter and will be disappointed that they didn't at least draw.
"I think we can be very pleased with the first half. We had better goal opportunities than Bayern but we didn't make the most of them, unfortunately," Rapid midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz told ORF.
"I think Bayern controlled the second half better," he added
Rapid regularly looked dangerous on the counter-attack, particularly at the end of the first half, when they could have scored twice.
Captain Steffen Hofmann couldn't quite reach a cross when he was unmarked in front of goal and when Axel Lawaree's cross found striker Marek Kincl the Czech somehow managed to blast the ball over the crossbar.
"I was trembling over the three points until the last minute," Bayern coach Felix Magath told ORF.
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