With the formality of a Champions League playoff round against Zurich behind them, Bayern Munich opened up the group stage of Europe's top-flight tournament with a strong showing, beating FC Villarreal 2-0 on the road.

Even with their star striker Arjen Robben out with a lingering groin strain, Bayern took firm control of the game from early on thanks to a goal in the 7th minute from Toni Kroos.

Kroos' goal came thanks to a perfectly placed Franck Ribery cross from the left side, the first of many that Bayern's French midfielder lobbed into the middle. It would be the only time any of his efforts produced a goal in this game (many crosses to Mario Gomez in the first half ended with the linesman's flag waving in the air), but Ribery more resembled the man who helped take Bayern to the final of the Champions League in 2009/2010 than the man who mostly limped through last season.

On the other side of the pitch, Villarreal attempted to play more defensively and utilize long balls to the front. A few of these chances looked like they could turn dangerous, but a solid Manuel Neuer had no trouble handling anything that made its way past the Bayern defense.

With Villarreal opting to hang back, Bayern spread the game to the wings and was able to keep control of the game.

Second half without Gomez

After the break, with Bayern leading 1-0, recently-acquired Nils Petersen came onto the pitch in place of Gomez, who came off because of adductor problems. Peterson nearly put Bayern comfortably ahead twice in the first few minutes of the second half. While he did miss what looked to be makeable goals, Petersen remained an active part of Bayern's offense for the rest of the game.

But the biggest missed opportunity of the second half came not from Petersen but from Kroos, who needed only to direct Petersen's precision cross into a wide open goal to put Bayern comfortably ahead 2-0 but instead deflected the ball off the post and sent it out of bounds.

Missed chances kept things interesting

Bayern's uncomfortable one-goal advantage kept the game exciting and motivated Villarreal to keep looking for the equalizer.

That lasted until the 76th minute, when Bayern defender Rafinha dribbled through the legs of Villarreal defender Bruno Soriano and blasted away at keeper Diego Lopez, who was helpless as the ball glanced off his body and into the goal to put Bayern ahead 2-0.

After the game, Bayern's coach Jupp Heynckes admitted that there were some goal chances left out on the pitch, but praised the effort of his team.

"We should have wrapped it up earlier," he said, "but we can all be very satisfied."

Manchester draws

Elsewhere around the Champions League, the other teams in Bayern's group also faced off against each other. Napoli played on the road against Manchester City and managed to hold the English side to a 1-1 draw.

Manchester United also had to settle for a 1-1 draw against hosts Benfica Lisbon in Group C.

Real Madrid, home to German internationals Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, beat Dinamo Zagreb on the road 1-0 to put them at the top of Group D after Ajax Amsterdam and Olympique Lyon shared a 0-0 draw.

Author: Matt Zuvela
Editor: Spencer Kimball