Ribery delighted with last-eight place

(GETTY IMAGES)

Franck Ribery believes Bayern Munich's dramatic progression to the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Fiorentina last night underlines the unity in the ranks at the Bundesliga club.

Bayern's Dutch connection secured the aggregate win, with goals Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben not enough to avert a 3-2 loss on the night but sufficient to see the Germans progress on away goals at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Qualification to the last eight of the Champions League will go a long way towards convincing Ribery to extend his contract at the Allianz Arena, and the France international was in upbeat mood after the result.

"It was very important for us to go through," he said. "We knew that it was not going to be an easy game and the weather didn't help us either, particularly in the first half when it was very tough.

"We showed a great team performance with a lot of solidarity.

"As a team, together we can achieve a lot."

Matching last season's achievement in reaching the quarter-finals was a minimum requirement for Bayern, and now the bar is set to be raised even higher with hopes running high of a favourable draw in the next round.

"We are happy to have gone through - that was the aim," midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger told Bayern's official website.

"Now we have got to see if we get the luck of the draw. Maybe we will get another not-so-big opponent."