Bayern Munich vs. Shakhtar Donetsk: Winners and Losers from Champions League

Bayern Munich continued their all-conquering campaign for this season's Champions League with a truly defining, character-destroying demolishing of Shakhtar Donetsk.

Pep Guardiola's side won the match by no less than seven goals to nil, following a red card for the visiting side after just 159 seconds on the pitch.

In truth, the professional foul altered the game in its style and tempo, but it probably changed very little about the ultimate outcome. The Bavarian champions looked presidential and altogether worthy of their comprehensive win.

A battle cry rang out with every single goal that flew past Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov on Wednesday night. This is Bayern's European Cup, and nobody is going to stop them.

Here are the winners and losers from the Champions League match.

Winner: Thomas Muller

Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press

With two goals to his name on the night, Thomas Muller confirmed himself as the top goalscorer for Bayern in the Champions League era.

The German forward has now scored 26 goals for the club in Europe throughout his reign in Munich and was once again on call to prove just how vital he is to any success this team pick up in Europe.

He may not always be the most aesthetically pleasing player, but Muller is undoubtedly one of the most effective in European football today.

Loser: Olexandr Kucher

Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press

With a red card dished out two minutes and 39 seconds into Wednesday night's game, Olexandr Kucher became the quickest-ever sending-off in Champions League history.

The Shakhtar defender received his marching orders after a clumsy tackle on Mario Gotze and effectively decided the fate of his side very early on in the game.

For neutrals across the world, it was a decision that ultimately ruined the game. The Ukrainian giants did an admirable job keeping close to Bayern in the first leg and would have undoubtedly made a real game of the second one had they managed to keep 11 players on the pitch.

Ultimately, Bayern ran out comfortable winners, but not before Kucher gave them a significant advantage.

Winner: Holger Badstuber

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Watching Holger Badstuber glide across the Bayern back line on Wednesday, one would be forgiven for forgetting that he had just spent two years in rehabilitation for a horrific injury.

Guardiola has always spoken of his admiration of the German central defender, but little did we know just how quickly Badstuber would be integrated into this first team.

The 25-year-old had only been back for nine games before Wednesday's clash, but boy does he already look like a world-beater.

Loser: Mehdi Benatia

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

It was perhaps telling of the hierarchy in Bayern's defensive system that Dante came on for Badstuber in the 67th minute.

Guardiola is a keen believer in rotating his squad, but there's one player who hasn't seen quite as much time on the pitch as the rest of his team-mates: Mehdi Benatia.

The former Roma star is, of course, just returning from a calf strain, but one would have expected Guardiola to pick the defender who has remained ever-present until very recently in Bayern's Champions League starting XI. Instead, we got the senior Brazilian defender, replacing a returning star who will undoubtedly leapfrog both Benatia and Dante to the top of the queue alongside Jerome Boateng.

The Moroccan defender isn't in trouble yet, but he isn't making a strong case for his inclusion either.

Winner: Guardiola's Champions League Intentions

Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press

There are very few teams who have remained spotless in the Champions League this season. In fact, when we run through the main contenders—Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Barcelona—it's hard not to look at each team and point to a problem in their squad.

Alas, Bayern have regained—if they ever indeed lost it—their status as No. 1 contenders for this all-conquering crown. The German champions look unstoppable and odds-on to make another European champion out of their coach, Guardiola.

For such a club and such a manager, this is so much more important than it may first appear. Bayern simply live off European success, and so, too, does their success-driven manager. Guardiola needs this season's European Cup, and he may well be getting it.

Guardiola was quoted by UEFA.com as saying:

"

It was a clear result. It was a little easier as we were playing 11 against ten for a long time.

Shakhtar didn't have one really good chance.

Congratulations to my team. We will play in the quarter-finals, that is what we expected and what we wanted.

"

ESPN.com writer Stephan Uersfeld believes only a lack of competition could harm the hopes of Guardiola and Bayern in the Champions League this season.

He wrote:

"

Last year, Bayern Munich cruised to the Bundesliga title. They won in late March, faster than any other side in Bundesliga history.

Manager Pep Guardiola said his famous words "Bundesliga is over," and the Bavarians lost focus, two games in Bundesliga and ran into the humiliation in their home stadium.

They don't want it to happen again.

"