Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Friendly : Bayern Munich 13 : 1 Paulaner XI

An ecstatic crowd of 9,500, 20 amateur players seeing their dream come true, and a total of 14 goals all made for a festival night at the Paulaner Southern Cup event in Burghausen on Monday evening. Bayern took on an amateur XI put together by long-term partner Paulaner breweries, winning by a comfortable 13-1 margin. Bundesliga top scorer Mario Gomez led off the entertainment with five goals on the night.

No fewer than 10,000 amateur players from all over Bavaria applied for the one-off opportunity of a game against Germany’s biggest club. Following a casting in front of a jury headed by Paul Breitner and TV personality Waldemar Hartmann, and a brief training camp at Bayern’s Säbener Strasse facility, organisers selected five regional teams, representing Franconia, Lower Bavaria, Upper Bavaria, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The men from Lower Bavaria topped a final qualifying tournament and earned the privilege of facing FCB at Burghausen’s Wacker Stadium.

Fun for all

“It's an appealing, fun idea,” commented Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, as the club arrived in Burghausen with all the fit members of the senior squad. The players clearly enjoyed their evening to the full, delighting the crowd with flowing football and goals galore. “It wasn’t important how many we scored, this was all about having fun,” an upbeat Franck Ribéry said afterwards.



Bayern opened the scoring on 14 minutes through Marcos Alvarez, one of four FCB II players to feature on the night. Gomez (20, 28, 45), Miroslav Klose (25) and Philipp Lahm (31) made it half a dozen before the interval. The plucky amateurs fought gamely to stem the tide, and almost scored themselves, only for seventh-tier striker Christian Brandl to hit the bar after 30 minutes.

Teasing and tormenting

Andries Jonker sent on Danijel Pranjic, Toni Kroos, Arjen Robben and Ribéry for the second period, and the deadly wing duo were in sparkling form, tormenting their opponents at times with blistering movement and pace. The pair immediately added their names to the scoresheet, Robben netting twice (47, 51) and Ribéry adding one of his own (54), before the wingers turned providers for Kroos (65, 67) and Gomez (78).

Nine minutes from time, the Paulaner XI were rewarded for their courageous display when Herbert Grammetbauer scored a consolation goal, sending his fellow players and the crowd into raptures. Bayern were to have the final word, however, as Gomez rounded off the scoring to make it 13-1 two minutes from time.






Monday, May 16, 2011

Friendly : Bayern Munich 4 : 3 Düren District XI

An excited 9,000 crowd at the Langerwehe stadium in the district of Düren in the far west of Germany endured humid sunshine, torrential rain and driving hail on Sunday afternoon, but the fans were rewarded for their perseverance with goals galore and plenty of free-flowing football, as Bayern beat a local district XI by the odd goal in seven in the first of three post-season friendlies.

The day after the final match of the Bundesliga campaign at home to Stuttgart, FCB boss Andries Jonker began with just four players from the starting line-up against VfB, with FCB II youngsters Cüneyt Köz, Nicolas Jüllich and Marcos Alvarez also taking the field for kick-off. The home side comprised players drawn from sixth-tier clubs Germania Lich-Steinstraß, Viktoria Arnoldsweiler and Borussia Freialdenhoven




In a lively and entertaining encounter, Visar Behramyi handed the underdogs a shock seventh-minute lead, but Bayern took control after that and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk struck on 23 and 44 minutes to nose the top flight visitors in front.

The home side were not done yet and came out fighting for the second half. Ersan Köcyigit (63) and Thomas Betzer (79) set up the prospect of an upset against FCB, as the Bavarians made a total of six changes in the course of the second 45 minutes. However, Holger Badstuber (84) and newly-crowned Bundesliga top scorer Mario Gomez (87) struck late on to ensure the Munich party headed home with a win – and as a bonus, no injured players.


Saturday, May 14, 2011

Facts and Stats from Bayern Munich vs VfB Sttutgart

9 - Bayern are undefeated in nine league games, a good foundation for next season.

12 - Arjen Robben has 12 goals and eight assists since Christmas. On Saturday, he laid on Mario Gomez’ equaliser.

15 - Gomez has scored 15 of his 28 goals this term in the calendar year 2011.

19 - Bayern have scored at least once in their last 19 league matches, the longest such streak in the top flight.




36 - FCB are the best team since the halfway point of the season with fully 36 points

50 - Munich are the league’s top scorers since Christmas with 50 goals. The last time any team achieved that was in 1985/86 – and it was also Bayern back then.

77 - Bastian Schweinsteiger was the busiest player on the field against Stuttgart with 77 touches of the ball.

81 - Bayern are the league’s top scorers this term with 81 goals, easily surpassing champions Borussia Dortmund (67).

100 - Of Munich’s 102 league games at the Allianz Arena, no fewer than 100 have now been officially sold out.

109 - Philipp Lahm has started an amazing 109 consecutive games for the club.

121 - Games involving Bayern this season produced a total of 121 goals, the most in the Bundesliga.

Matchday 34 : FC Bayern Munich 2 : 1 VfB Sttutgart

As it turned out, Bayern’s slender hopes of second spot were not to be fulfilled on the last day of the 2010/11 season, but Andries Jonker’s side closed their league programme with an entertaining 2-1 win over Stuttgart to finish third in the Bundesliga and seal a Champions League qualifying spot.

The 69,000 capacity crowd at the Allianz Arena saw the home side, playing for the first time in their new red and gold jerseys, start brightly enough but fall behind to a Shinji Okazaki strike midway through the first half. Mario Gomez, confirmed as the league’s leading scorer this season, levelled from a superb pass by the outstanding Arjen Robben, but the sides cancelled each other out for long spells after that. Bastian Schweinsteiger headed FCB into the lead with 20 minutes to go, and Jonker’s men comfortably held out to claim a 13th home win of term.

The result, coupled with Leverkusen’s 1-0 win away to Freiburg, means Munich have come third in the Bundesliga on 65 points from their 34 matches, three off second-placed Bayer and five clear of Hannover in fourth. The Bavarians round off a roller-coaster season with three friendlies in the coming week, before the playing and coaching staff start their official summer leave. Training under new boss Jupp Heynckes officially restarts on 1 July.



For his final game in charge, interim coach Jonker made two changes to the side which destroyed St Pauli last week, Holger Badstuber replacing the injured Luiz Gustavo, and Miroslav Klose in for the suspended Franck Ribery. For Stuttgart, fresh from securing their top flight status last week, boss and former FCB striker Bruno Labbadia fielded Pavel Pogrebnyak in place of club captain Cacau (groin surgery).

The afternoon opened with farewells and a bouquet of flowers each for Thomas Kraft, Hamit Altintop and Andreas Ottl, all of whom are leaving the club, but once referee Florian Meyer whistled play underway, any end-of-term feeling rapidly vanished as the sides served up a hard-fought, high-tempo first period with chances at both end.

Both keepers were in action early on, Jörg Butt saving from Zdravko Kuzmanovic, and Sven Ulreich blocking shots by Robben and Klose, who then fired over with the goal at his mercy. Worse was to come for the Germany striker, as he totally miscued from just a couple of yards following Robben’s piercing run to the by-line.



VfB made the most of the let-off and seized the initiative for a spell, Okazaki initially testing Butt from distance, and then netting from close range on 24 minutes after Martin Harnik broke clear and crossed first time from the right. Butt tipped a Christian Träsch curler away to safety, before the score in missed sitters moved to 1-1 when Austria international Harnik inexplicably failed to connect when faced with an empty net.

A moment of Robben magic led to the 37th-minute equaliser and swung the balance back Bayern’s way. The Dutch superstar controlled a long pass with a superb first touch, before setting off on a weaving run across the face of the box and slipping a sublime pass between four VfB defenders, leaving Gomez with the simplest of tasks from eight yards.

Butt was forced to tip a Pogrebnyak thunderbolt over the bar before half-time, but although the intensity remained high after the restart, chances became thinner on the ground as the sides paused for breath.



FCB upped the pace on the hour, but Thomas Müller came up inches short of Schweinsteiger’s clever headed pass, and Jonker opted for fresh impetus on 65 minutes by sending on Ottl and Toni Kroos for Tymoshchuk and the luckless Klose. Serdar Tasci put a rare Stuttgart chance into Row Z, but Schweinsteiger deservedly put Bayern ahead on 71 minutes with a near-post header from Kroos’ inswinging free-kick.

Gomez came within an ace of his 29th goal of the season only to flick Lahm’s cross onto the underside of the bar, before Kuzmanovic shaved the crossbar with a free-kick. Gomez walked off to a standing ovation three minutes from time, his place going to Danijel Pranjic, but although the visitors ended the game on the attack, the match ended in an ultimately deserved home win.



Saturday, May 7, 2011

Facts and Stats from Bayern Munich vs St.Pauli

1 - Mario Gomez’ hat-trick against St Pauli means he has completed a Bundesliga set. After netting against the Hamburg minnows for the first time, he now has at least one goal against every Bundesliga club he has ever faced.

3 - Bayern have increased their dominance of the Bundesliga’s scorer point (goals plus assists) ratings. The top three spots are now held by Mario Gomez (32 points), Thomas Müller (25) and Franck Ribéry (24).

5 - Gomez has scored five league hat-tricks this term. Should he do it again against Stuttgart next weekend, he would equal the league record of six triple strikes in a season, set by Gerd Müller in 1971/72.

8 - Bayern have never before scored eight away from home in the Bundesliga, and Saturday’s result is the club’s biggest ever away win in the German top flight, beating a 7-1 triumph away to Mönchengladbach on 24 March 1979.




21 - Arjen Robben scored twice and set up three more against Pauli, moving to 21 scorer points in just 13 matches. The Dutchman, who missed the whole of the first half of the campaign with injury, is far and away the most dangerous player in the league since the halfway mark.

18 - Bayern have scored at least once in their last 18 league matches, the longest streak in the top flight.

27 - Mario Gomez now has 27 goals for the season, a new personal best. In the league ranking, he is five clear of Freiburg hitman Papiss Demba Cissé (22) with just one game left. In the 48-year history of the Bundesliga, Gomez is only the 13th man to score 27 goals or more in a season.

31 - Franck Ribéry’s brace at the Millerntor means he has 31 Bundesliga goals in total, level with Johan Micoud as the highest-scoring Frenchman in Bundesliga history.

48 - Bayern are the top scorers in the second half of the Bundesliga season with 48 goals from 16 matches to date.

100 - Yet more congratulations to Mario Gomez! His hat-trick against Pauli means he has a century of Bundesliga goals from just 181 appearances.

108 - Philipp Lahm started his 108th consecutive match on Saturday. In all that time, he has only been substituted once, in a DFB Cup meeting with Oberhausen in September 2009. Lahm is also the club’s only ever-present this term.

150 - Bayern’s last 150 home and away Bundesliga fixtures have been officially classified as sold out, a unique record in the history of the modern German top flight. The last FCB match played in front of less than a full house was a midweek goalless draw with Bochum in January 2007, where the Allianz Arena crowd was ‘only’ 64,000.

Matchday 33 : FC Bayern Munich 8 : 1 St. Pauli


Rampant Bayern blasted a record eight away goals past outclassed St Pauli on Saturday, sealing third place in the Bundesliga and a Champions League qualifying spot at a minimum, as Andries Jonker’s side made the most of a men-against-boys situation for most of a one-sided afternoon.

The 24,487 full house at the Millerntor stadium in Hamburg saw deadly striker Mario Gomez open the scoring with the first chance of the match, before Daniel van Buyten doubled the lead on the half-hour to confirm the visitors’ effortless superiority.

Pauli came out fighting for the second half, but FCB killed off the brief rally with a double whammy on 53 minutes, Gomez netting his 26th goal of the season and Arjen Robben blasting home from close range. Franck Ribery made it five a quarter-hour from time, but although Marcel Eger headed a consolation for the home side, the gulf in class was evidenced by further goals for Robben, Gomez and Ribery before the end.

The win, coupled with Hannover’s 2-1 defeat to Stuttgart, means Munich can finish no lower than third in the Bundesliga, as they lie five ahead of Hannover on 62 points from 33 matches, and are only three off second-placed Leverkusen with one game to go. The Bavarians can still finish second if they win their final match of the campaign, the home meeting with VfB Stuttgart next Saturday, and Leverkusen lose away to Freiburg.

Caretaker boss Jonker made just a single change to the side which swept Schalke aside in a scintillating performance last week, Luiz Gustavo returning from suspension in place of Holger Badstuber.

The Brazilian took his place alongside Van Buyten at centre-half, with Diego Contento and captain Philipp Lahm at full-back, and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk partnering Bastian Schweinsteiger in central midfield. Messrs Robben, Müller, Ribery and Gomez made, as usual, for a fearsome attacking unit.

The afternoon opened with an emotional farewell to Pauli boss Holger Stanislawski, an 18-year servant of the club as player and official, but once referee Thorsten Kinhöfer whistled play underway on a blazing hot afternoon in the northern port city, FCB were soon in the driving seat and had the lead after just ten minutes.

There seemed little danger when Müller hooked a speculative ball into the box, but Markus Thorandt suicidally attempted to find keeper Thomas Kessler with his chest, allowing Gomez to nick in and net off the keeper’s legs at the second time of asking.

Ribery and Robben had already let off range-finders, and Schweinsteiger came within an ace of making it two in the move immediately following the goal, but the pace dropped for a spell until Müller warmed Kessler’s gloves from an angle, Schweinsteiger fired over the bar, and Tymoshchuk’s goalbound shot foundered in a forest of legs.

The second goal seemed only a matter of time, and it arrived just after the half-hour when van Buyten rose to meet Robben’s near-post corner, the Belgian’s flicked header flashing into the net off the luckless Thorandt. Fully 40 minutes had been played before Jörg Butt was forced to make a save, and it was a routine affair too from Florian Lechner’s hopeful swerver.

Badstuber replaced the injured Gustavo on 43 minutes, and there was one more incident before the interval as Butt reacted superbly to block from Dennis Daube as the FCB defence fell asleep for the first and only time in the half.

Stanislawski went for broke after the interval, and substitute forwards Marius Ebbers and Florian Bruns were soon in the thick of the action with a couple of half-chances. Lechner rattled the outside of a post from long distance, but the ploy meant leaving gaps at the back, and the visitors put an end to the minor revival with two clinically-taken goals in a minute.

With the clock ticking over to 53 minutes played, Gomez latched onto Robben’s inch-perfect pass and slid the ball through Kessler’s legs, before Robben crashed home the fourth from close range after Müller’s clever cut-back not 60 seconds later.

With Pauli’s fate well and truly sealed, the match took on the character of a friendly at times, although there was little friendliness in evidence as Fin Bartels and Ribery squared up, each man earning himself a booking. Miro Klose and Toni Kroos took over from Müller and Schweinsteiger for the last 20 minutes, but it was Ribery who side-footed home the fifth on 74 minutes after Kessler blocked when Gomez looked certain to score.

Eger nodded home a near-post free-kick to net his side a consolation four minutes later, but Robben, fully ten yards from goal, restored the five-goal margin with a superbly-executed header from Ribery’s pinpoint cross with six minutes to play. Bayern were not finished yet, as Gomez completed yet another hat-trick from Robben’s unselfish lay-off, and Ribery curled goal number eight before Mr Kinhöfer put Pauli out of their misery with the final whistle on a memorable afternoon in Hamburg.