Bundesliga - Match Review: Bayern Munich versus Wolfsburg
Bayern Munich, the present German champions took on Wolfsburg in their first match of the new league season. Munich ended the last season with a brilliant run of trophies which saw them conquer the German league and win it comfortably; they also won the DFP Pokal Cup, a tournament which is held in high prestige in German footballing circles. Bayern’s only disappointment came in last year’s UEFA Champions League, a competition in which they finished as runners up to the eventual winners Inter Milan.
In the summer transfer window, both the teams have been relatively quiet so far. However, the transfer window was much more important for the German Champions, as they had a task on their hand to hold onto their star players who performed at the FIFA 2010 World Cup for Germany, players such as Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Thomas Mueller.
Bayern, who are currently managed by Louis Van Gaal, have up till now successfully kept their Bavarian superstars happy as their future currently looks secure at the club. In other good news, Bayern have also managed to convince Franck Ribery and Robben to stay at the club. All in all, Bayern Munich’s squad is relatively unchanged as compared to last season, when they just missed out on the treble.
Wolfsburg have also had a busy summer so far but their worries have been associated with preventing their talented striker, Edin Dzeko from leaving the club. Despite the striker’s open acknowledgment of interest from other clubs such as Juventus, he is presently still with Wolfsburg which is a mighty good sign for the club’s fans. The men in green and white also saw a change in management as the ex-English national team manager; Steve McLaren was given the managerial job at Wolfsburg during the summer break.
Munich started with Klose, Ribery, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Mueller all in their starting lineup. These superstars were complimented by other players such as Van Buyten in defense, Kroos and Van Bommel in midfield and Butt in goal. Bayern came to their first league match of the season of the back off a penalty shootout loss to Real Madrid.
Conversely, Wolfsburg started with Edin Dzeko and Mandzukic in attack with their Brazilian striker Grafite on the bench. They also played Josue in midfield alongside Karim Ziani and Cicero. In defense, Steve McLaren’s team played with Simon Kjaer and Marcel Schafer on either full back positions while Peter Pekarik and Sascha Riether played in central defense.
Match was held at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany and the referee for the Bundesliga encounter was Thorsten Kinhöfer. Bayern started the first half in much better shape than Wolfsburg and the German champions quickly took the lead in the 9th minute of the match through their striker, Thomas Mueller. Mueller, who won the best young player award at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, gave Bayern the lead by latching onto Kroos’s pass from the German midfield.
The first player to go into the referee’s book was Bayern’s infamous Mark Van Bommel on the 33rd minute mark in the match. It was not surprising for anyone to see Van Bommel booked in the early stages of the match as the Dutch midfielder is well known for his tacky approach to football. In the 43rd minute of the match, Wolfsburg’s defender Peter Pekarik became the second player in the first half to see the yellow card for a late challenge.
Bayern controlled the game brilliantly after getting the first goal and soon started to camp inside Wolfsburg’s half. This allowed their midfield to control possession magnificently throughout the first half as at the end of the first period of the match, the score line lay at one nil to Bayern Munich. At the start of the second half, Pekarik was replaced by Misimovic, as Wolfsburg’s first change of the night took place.
In the 46th minute of the match, Wolfsburg had their best chance to score as Mandzukic hit the Bayern’s goal post. Wolfsburg looked an improved side compared to their first half performance, in the early minutes of the second half and soon they got their equalizing goal through Dzeko as the Bosnian Herzegovinian striker met Karim Ziani’s perfect cross with a forceful header.
In the 62nd minute of the second half, Cicero was lucky only to shown a yellow card for his malicious tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich. In the 64th minute, Barzagli was shown a yellow card by the German referee. At the 73rd minute mark, Bayern made two substitutions as Klose made way for Gomez and Pranjic came on for Kroos. Wolfsburg made their second substitution of the match in the 77th minute as Ziani got substituted for Dejagah. These changes worked brilliantly for Bayern, who took the lead in the dying moments of the match through Bastian Schweinsteiger, the goal came right at the death in the injury time of the match with the clock at 91 minutes.
Bastian’s goal sealed the win for Bayern, as the score at the end of the match was Bayern Munich 2, Wolfsburg 1.
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