Van Buyten has had a highly successful first season at the Bavarian club, forming a formidable Centre-Back partnership with Brazilian Lucio. Van Buyten scored his first goal for Bayern Munich against Energie Cottbus on 9 December 2006. Bayern ran out 2-1 winners and it was Van Buyten's goal which secured the win. Van Buyten then scored his second goal for the club in the loss to Borussia Dortmund. However, Van Buyten's most valuable contribution came against AC Milan on 3 April 2007, in the first-leg of the Champions League quarter-final. Van Buyten scored two priceless away goals to level the match and giving Bayern Munich the advantage in the tie (see below). The two close range efforts doubled his tally to four goals for the season. Champions League In the first leg of the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League quarter-final encounter against AC Milan at the San Siro, he scored twice with his left foot, once in the 78th minute to take Bayern to 1-1. Then he scored a stoppage time half-volley. This takes his tally to three total UEFA Champions League goals. He scored one for Marseille in 2003 against Real Madrid. Bank theft incident Whilst he was with Manchester City, he, along with players Djamel Belmadi and Vicente Vuoso, was the victim of a theft by two bankers. In total, bank workers at the Co-operative Bank stole more than £350,000 from the accounts of the three players. In January 2006,[1][2] the bank workers, Paul Sherwood, a cashier, and Paul Hanley, his supervisor, were jailed for 32 months and 12 months respectively. National team Van Buyten was called-up to the national team in 2001 and was on roster for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. On 11 February 2009, he scored a rare double as the Belgians sunk Slovenia 2-0 in a friendly match.[3]