Karl-Heinz Rummenigge believes Bayern Munich have given themselves every chance of reaching the Champions League final.
This after a 1-0 win over Lyon in the first leg of their last four clash at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern will take the slender advantage with them to the Stade Gerland next week and although they will be without the suspended Franck Ribery, whose red card was the main talking point of the match, Rummenigge fancies their chances.
"I have to pay a compliment to the team - we really deserved it," he said.
"We now have decent chance of reaching the final. Our aim will be to go to Lyon to score a goal because then they would have to score three and that would be difficult for them."
Star man Ribery will not be on duty however after he was shown a red card in the 37th minute for a foul on Lisandro.
"It's unfortunate that the referee gave a red card," said Rummenigge. "But we cannot change it and we have got to accept it and hope that UEFA are not too harsh on him so that he could be in final and that the ban reflects the incident."
Bayern's director of sport Christian Nerlinger admitted he was "shocked" when referee Roberto Rosetti pulled the red card from his pocket.
"I have seen it again on TV and maybe you can give him a yellow card," he said. "We hope he is treated like it was a yellow card
"I was very shocked, but the referee has taken this decision and we are not going to criticise him."
Nerlinger was not the only one to be dumbfounded by Rosetti's decision to reduce the home side to 10 men in the first half.
"Nobody expected him to show red," said Thomas Muller, who insisted he had got his "hair" to Arjen Robben's shot to deflect it past Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for the decisive goal.
"I didn't go to the hairdresser this week when I was meant to do and maybe it was a good job I didn't," he joked.
"We have shown that we can beat Lyon. If we can beat them at home, then we can also beat them away. We have great morale levels."
Despite Muller's claims the goal looks likely to go down as Robben's.
The Dutchman also scored decisive goals against Fiorentina in the first knockout stage and Manchester United in the quarter-finals on his way to 20 goals in all competitions since his summer move from Real Madrid.
"We are delighted to have him and nobody expected he would score so many goals," beamed Rummenigge.
Lyon also ended the game with 10 men when Jeremy Toulalan picked up two yellow cards in just three minutes in the second half and that could well have been the turning point, according to their coach Claude Puel.
"We knew that the referee would punish us for the slightest of mistakes and that happened with Toulalan," he said. "It's a shame we could not keep our numerical superiority for longer"
"With 10 men each, we had to run a lot, but we were unable to maintain possession in attack.
"Even if the result is not in our favour, the tie is still open and it will be decided in the second leg."
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