Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal saluted a masterful team effort after his side's convincing 3-0 victory over Lyon swept them into the Champions League final last night.
Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal saluted a masterful team effort after his side's convincing 3-0 victory over Lyon swept them into the Champions League final last night.
A hat-trick from Ivica Olic secured a 4-0 aggregate win, which was the biggest winning margin in a Champions League semi-final since Juventus beat van Gaal's Ajax 6-2 in the 1996-97 competition.
Despite Olic's headline-grabbing performance, his coach insisted the credit for the victory deserved to be shared among all his players.
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"He scored three goals, but only because he was the nearest player to the goal."
The margin of Bayern's victory reflected their superiority over both legs and van Gaal was satisfied by his side's management of the tie.
"We played a great match," said the Dutchman, who will now seek to become only the third coach after Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld to lead two different sides to European Cup glory.
"We were well-positioned in attack as well as defence. If we play like that until the end we will be very hard to beat. We only gave them two chances, which they couldn't take. I am very proud of my team."
With his side 1-0 down after the first leg, Lyon coach Claude Puel sent his men out in an attacking 4-2-3-1 that restored wingers Michel Bastos and Sidney Govou to the line-up in support of lone striker Lisandro Lopez.
They carved out few clear chances, though, with Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis spurning the best of them by volleying off-target.
Van Gaal said he had anticipated Lyon's change of approach. "I expected Lyon would play in another way," he said.
"I read the papers. They didn't play very well in Munich (in the first leg), so it's natural that a coach will change his team.
"I expected that they would play with a number 10 (Cesar Delgado). My players were informed.
"We saw that our pressing in Munich was too much for them and we have also seen that today."
Bayern will contest the final with either Barcelona or Inter Milan, who lead 3-1 ahead of the resumption of their semi-final in Barcelona on Wednesday. "Nine times out of 10, Barcelona would beat us, but we would still have our chances," said van Gaal. "We would prefer to play Inter. It would be good to do a press conference with my friend Jose Mourinho."
Puel conceded that his side had fallen to a stronger team.
"You simply have to congratulate their team, which was fantastic in lots of areas," he said.
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