Bayern Munich continued on their quest to defend their Champions League crown with a decisive victory over underdogs Manchester United.
Patrice Evra opened the scoring with a cracker before Mario Mandzukic, Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben sealed the tie for the Bavarian side.
Manchester United travelled to the Allianz Arena needing to scor against Pep Guardiola's Bundesliga champions if they wanted to make it into the last four of the Champions League. A section of the stadium's seats was closed down, a sanction placed on the holders after a homophobic banner was displayed during the Arsenal game.
David Moyes could look to other English clubs and their travels to Germany as Manchester City this year, Arsenal the year before, and Chelsea have beaten Munich on their ground - Chelsea most significantly did it to win the Champions League trophy in the 2011-12 season.
The visitors were boosted by Wayne Rooney returning to the side after missing the weekend and Patrice Evra's return to the starting lineup, whilst Munich brought in Mandzukic, Dante and Mario Gotze for the suspended Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez, and Rafinha.
Bayern put their opponents under predictable early pressure, but they were thwarted off by United in the early stages. Guardiola bemoaned the defensive and counter attack outlook favoured by Moyes last week, but it almost paid dividends as Rooney latched onto a hopeful Valencia pass in the early goings. However, the England international was crowded out in the Bayern penalty area.
Rooney and Valencia did combine to net a goal after a tight first 15 minutes, but the goal was correctly adjudged to be offside. David Moyes would watch on hoping that they could manage to produce similar attacks again.
Aside from a few dangerous runs from Robben cutting in from the right, Manchester United made it to half time scoreless with David de Gea not having to make a save. The United number one watched a lot of speculative efforts fly wide of his goal. The later it remained goalless, the more hope United had that a goal would prove to be crucial. But, as much as Bayern did not look like scoring in the first 45 minutes, they did not look like they would concede either.
The second half began much the same, with Bayern's pressure failing to amount to anything in the scoreline. However, it was Manchester United who ignited the match on the night with a precious away goal.
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Just 12 minutes after the restart, great work from Valencia on the right allowed the Ecuadorian winger to swing his cross in to the danger area. It bounced at the feet of Patrice Evra on the edge of the area and his first time effort was sweetly struck, kissing the underside of the crossbar on its way in for the crucial away goal.
The lead lasted less than a minute as Bayern equalised almost straight from kick off. It was a Gotze cross from the left that Mario Mandzukic stopped low to head past De Gea - 22 seconds after the restart - for his 24th goal of the season.
With just over 20 minutes to go, after wave upon wave of attack, Thomas Muller bagged Bayern's second of the night. Robben latched onto a dropping ball in the United area and his fizzed low cross was diverted by Muller to set up a gripping finale as extra time would no longer be possible if Manchester United were to score again.
The visitors' goal seemingly woke up Bayern's killer instinct as Arjen Robben waltzed past two United defenders and his shot took a slight deflection off the outstretched Nemanja Vidic nestling into de Gea's bottom corner, despite his best efforts to get there. 76 minutes were on the clock by this stage with the defending champions likely on their way into the semi-finals.
Manchester United played their last Champions League match for at least a year, after 18 consecutive seasons, as 4th place is only a mathematical possibility rather than a realistic one at this stage. Bayern march on as strong favourites going into an eagerly awaited draw on Friday with Real Madrid, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid waiting.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Lahm, Dante, Boateng, Alaba, Kroos, Ribery, Robben, Gotze (Rafinha 64), Muller (Pizarro 84), Mandzukic
Manchester United: De Gea; Jones, Smalling, Vidic, Evra; Fletcher (Hernandez 75), Carrick; Valencia, Rooney, Kagawa; Welbeck (Januzaj 80)
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