Rampant Bayern cruise to emphatic victory

Bayern had the look of champions at times as they tore into sorry Cottbus on Saturday, creating enough chances to have won by a street.

The 69,000 at the Allianz Arena, including among their number the 30 millionth paying customer at an FCB Bundesliga fixture in Munich, saw the home side lay siege to the Cottbus goal, only for Ervin Skela to hand the visitors a 25th-minute lead utterly against the run of play.

The double winners levelled just four minutes later when Franck Ribery netted for the sixth game in succession, before Martin Demichelis headed his side into a long overdue and fully deserved lead before the break.

Excitement in store

Miroslav Klose extended the advantage nine minutes after the restart, before Luca Toni volleyed home the fourth to give the scoreline a more realistic look in a match giving a new meaning to the notion of one-way traffic.

Despite the emphatic win, Bayern remain third in the standings on 28 points from 14 games, but are now level on points with second-placed Leverkusen and just three off leaders Hoffenheim. The run-in to the mid-season break thus promises thrills aplenty, as the champions travel to Bayer next weekend, before entertaining the team in top spot a week after that.

Bayern showed one change to the side held 2-2 away to Monchengladbach last week, Massimo Oddo replacing Christian Lell at right-back. Otherwise, Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ze Roberto took up free roles in an attacking midfield, with enforcer Mark van Bommel also briefed to add his weight to FCB’s offensive efforts.

Energie boss Bojan Prasnikar fielded a 14th different line-up in his side’s 14th league game, and the visiting side certainly gave the impression of men playing together for the first time as the champions ran them ragged in the first quarter of the match.

The only charge which could be levelled at the men in red was profligacy, as an array of presentable chances went begging early on. Miro Klose hit a post with just two minutes played, Ze put three efforts wide, Demichelis headed straight at Cottbus keeper Gerhard Tremmel, and Toni alone failed to hit the target with a total of eight shots in the first period.

As so often when such a one-sided game remains goalless, it was the underdogs who took the lead with their first meaningful effort of the match, Skela’s curling free-kick from out on the left evading friend and foe alike and creeping in at Michael Rensing’s far post.

Ribery, resplendent in a new pair of pink boots, soon restored parity with a sublime direct free-kick over the Energie wall, before the unmarked Demichelis rose to head Oddo’s pinpoint cross in off the post and hand his side the lead after 38 minutes.

Bayern had delivered 22 shots to Energie’s four before the break, and the home side’s unfettered dominance persisted in the first 20 minutes after the restart. More chances came and went before Philipp Lahm released Ribery down the inside left channel, the France star flipping over a perfect cross for Klose to nod his fifth of the season from close range.

Toni finally added his name to the scoresheet with his tenth chance of the afternoon, burying a vicious volley from Oddo’s corner with an hour played, and although there were further openings for Ribery, Klose and the big Italian, Tremmel added to his rating as his side’s best player on the day with a number of decent saves.

Coach Jürgen Klinsmann sent on Daniel van Buyten, Toni Kroos and Andi Ottl for Demichelis, Schweinsteiger and Ze at appropriate points in the second half, as the Bavarians eased back in the final quarter with an eye on Tuesday’s crunch European game and next week’s visit to Leverkusen.

Live match report for fcbayern.de by Chris Hamley