10:27 AM

Bayern through after thriller

Posted by Webmaster 11


Bayern Munich produced a dramatic late comeback to draw 3-3 at 10-man Getafe to advance to the Uefa Cup semi-finals on away goals.

Getafe, who had Ruben de la Red sent off after just six minutes, appeared to be heading towards the last four in both normal time and extra-time.

But Franck Ribery equalised with a minute to go to send the tie into extra-time and Luca Toni then scored twice in the final five minutes after Getafe had gone 3-1 in front.

The Spaniards' prospects of reaching the semi-finals appeared to suffer an early blow when De la Red was shown the red card for a challenge on Miroslav Klose.

Yet Cosmin Contra, who scored a late equaliser in last week's 1-1 draw in Germany, had other ideas as he cut in from the right and fired a fierce shot past Oliver Kahn a minute before half-time.

Getafe held out until the 89th minute when Toni's flick-on ricocheted off David Cortes into the path of Ribery, who made no mistake in front of goal.

A minute into extra-time, Getafe regained the lead when Nobrega Braulio teed up Francisco Casquero to drill his shot in off the post.

Braulio made it 3-1 on the night just two minutes later when he converted Mario Cotelo's cross following poor defending from Lucio.

In the 115th minute, Bayern grasped a lifeline when Getafe keeper Pato dropped Mark van Bommel's free-kick and Toni pounced on the loose ball.

Toni, who had also scored in the first leg, then sent Bayern through to a last-four meeting with Zenit St Petersburg when he rose to head home Jose Ernesto Sosa's cross in the last minute.

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