Bolton claimed an impressive 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup's Group F. Bayern had won their first match of the competition while Bolton had disappointed with a draw at home against Braga. Bolton injury hit side were expected to struggle at the German rekordmeister but took an early lead through Gardner. Bayern dominated hugely and two Podolski strikes turned the game around. Bolton grabbed an unlikely equalizer 8 minutes from time though to the delight of manager Megson and the 4,000 travelling supporters at a sold out Allianz Arena.

Bayern manager Hitzfeld had an injury free side for this game but because they had a Bundesliga match 48 hours after their game against Bolton he decided to start with Lahm, Luca Toni and Altintop on the bench. Their line-up was still impressive though and especially Ribery was a constant threat. Bolton manager Megson had left an almost full side in England as Anelka, Diouf, Campo, J. O'Brien, Samuel, Meite, Hunt, Jaaskelianen and Wilhelmsson missed the game. As expected he crowded the midfield with 5 players and played Davies as a lone striker. There were rare starts for Alonso, Braaten, Michalik, Cid and Al Habsi.

Bolton stunned the German crowd with Gardner's early deflected strike but after that it was all Bayern Munich. The Germans piled on the pressure and Ottl should have levelled but shot over the bar. After half an hour Bolton were on a rare visit in the Bayern half but Davies shot wide of goal. Shortly afterwards Podolski equalized with a perfect finish into the top corner. Ribery, van Bommel and Schweinsteiger all missed good opportunities before Podolski's second gave Bayern the lead just after the break. It was play to one goal and Al Habsi in the Bolton goal had to be at his best to prevent Ribery from giving Bayern a two goal lead. Bayern kept going forward but their inability to grab a third goal was punished 8 minutes from time when Davies lashed onto a Nolan pass at the far post and equalized. Bayern tried to carve out a winner but Bolton rode off the late storm.

Bolton will argue that they deserved the point due to their never say die attitude and work rate but the fact is that Bayern should have won this game comfortably and will be kicking themselves for not taking advantage of their superiority and all but securing progress to the next round. Bayern had 27 shots at goal compared to Bolton's 7 but Al Habsi, who has only played once before this game in the last two years did well and Bolton's chances of qualification to the knock out phase are very much alive.