Hitzfeld only concerned with result

FC Bayern München showed no sign of the varying form that has haunted their 1. Bundesliga season as they defeated Boavista FC 1-0 in UEFA Champions League Group A. Roque Santa Cruz's late goal on Tuesday extended Ottmar Hitzfeld's side's unbeaten run at the Olympiastadion in the competition to 28 matches.

Effenberg took command
It took nearly an hour for Bayern to warm to the occasion, but when they did Hitzffeld's team then simply overpowered a Boavista side that had plenty of chances to take the lead - Alexandre Goulart coming the closest when he struck a post immediately after the restart. Once Stefan Effenberg had begun to orchestrate Bayern's attacking movements and Giovane Elber's clever link-up play began to open up the Boavista defence a Bavarian win became almost inevitable.

'More courageous'
Boavista coach Jaime Pacheco felt that his side's relative inexperience in the Champions League compared to their German rivals had been the cause of the Portuguese champions' downfall. "You could see that Bayern were the more clever and the more experienced team," Pacheco said. "We also had chances to win the game, but we should have been more courageous at the end of the match."

Space in short supply
Bayern had to spend much of the game trying to keep track of Boavista's Martelinho, who could count himself unlucky to finish the match on the losing side. But as Martelinho tired after some prodigious running and Hitzfeld sent on Claudio Pizarro gaps began to appear in the previously solid Boavista defence. "We had no space to play in a creative way and we gave Boavista too much space," said Paulo Sergio, another of Bayern's second-half substitutes. It was Paulo Sergio who cleverly held up the ball for Bixente Lizarazu, the provider of the cross that led to Santa Cruz's headed goal. "You can't do that against a side like Boavista," added the Brazilian. "Fortunately we somehow managed to get the goal."

One more step
Hitzfeld's decision to send on Pizarro also added some much-needed dynamism to the Bayern attack - the Peruvian hit a post soon after coming on. But Hitzfeld, a two-times Champions League-winning coach, was simply content to bask in the knowledge that his side had overcome a tricky opponent and moved closer to the competition's knockout stages. "Boavista are a tough team to play against," said Hitzfeld. "Their defence was well organised and they were very aggressive. I think we deserved to win. It wasn't a great match but it was a big step towards the quarter-finals."