Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1
Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)
Two for Tymo as champions ease to victory
An Anatoliy Tymoshchuk brace and a second-half double whammy from Thomas Müller and Mario Gomez broke a frustrating deadlock in Munich and set Bayern on their way to a fully merited home victory over a limited Eintracht Frankfurt side on Saturday.
The 69,000 capacity crowd at the Allianz Arena saw the home side dominate the first period and pepper the Eintracht goal with shots, but Theofanis Gekas cancelled out Tymoshchuk’s opener and the game was mysteriously deadlocked at the break. The double winners justly rectified the situation with goals from Müller and Gomez a minute either side of the hour, and it was a cruise to the whistle from then on, with Tymoshchuk adding a fourth at the end for good measure.
The result sees the Bavarians climb to fifth in the Bundesliga standings on 23 points from 14 games, seven off second-placed Mainz and 11 behind leaders Dortmund, who play in the evening. The men from Munich return to league action away to Schalke next Saturday, 4 December.
Louis van Gaal made three changes to the side beaten 3-2 in Rome on Tuesday, none of them unexpected. Jörg Butt resumed in goal for midweek debut man Thomas Kraft, Breno took over in central defence from the half-fit Martin Demichelis, and Bastian Schweinsteiger returned from suspension in place of Andi Ottl.
Franck Ribery featured in a Bundesliga starting line-up for the first time in nearly three months, and there was a minor tactical switch too with Toni Kroos alongside Tymoshchuk in the twin holding positions. On the bench, fit-again Mark van Bommel returned to the squad for the first time in six weeks.
For the visitors, boss Michael Skibbe’s makeshift line-up included Halil Altintop, whose twin brother Hamit began on the home bench, and also featured a first top flight start for 17-year-old Wunderkind Sonny Kittel.
Once referee Felix Zwayer whistled play underway on a freezing afternoon in the Bavarian capital, Kroos put an early shot wide and Gomez netted after Eintracht keeper Oka Nikolov could only parry a Ribery effort, only for the Germany striker to be called offside.
But the first clear-cut opportunity of the match fell to Eintracht on 13 minutes, when Daniel van Buyten’s error allowed Gekas to round Butt and shoot from a tight angle. Breno cleared the striker’s effort off the line, and although Gekas found Kittel with a cut-back, the youngster side-footed wide.
Stung by the escape, Bayern tore into their opponents for a spell, and although Gomez headed narrowly wide and Ribery’s volley sailed into the crowd, the men in red took a deserved lead on 29 minutes, Tymoshchuk accepting Müller’s pass on the edge of the box, before cutting inside Pirmin Schwegler and firing an unstoppable left-foot shot across Nikolov and in at the far stick.
But the lead only lasted four minutes, as the ever-dangerous Gekas headed against the post from Benjamin Heller’s cross, and reacted first to the rebound, coolly netting a shock equaliser with Butt prone on the line. The champions angrily poured forward in a powerful phase before the break, but Müller and van Buyten saw close-range shots blocked, the big Belgian headed inches over the bar from one of a succession of corners, and Ribery and Schweinsteiger’s goalbound shots were deflected wide.
Demichelis replaced the out-of-sorts van Buyten for the second period, but the pattern was the same as Gomez twice came close, first shaving the far post from an angle and then directing a header a shade too high. Munich duly gave the scoreline a far more accurate look with a double whammy on the hour, with both goals attributable to errors by veteran keeper Nikolov.
On 59 minutes, the Frankfurt stalwart spilled a long-range Kroos effort into the path of Müller, who kept his cool and twisted on his own axis before slotting over the line. The visiting defence was still at sixes and sevens two minutes later when Ribery fired at goal, and although Nikolov looked less at fault this time, the rebound dropped invitingly for Gomez to finish with some ease.
Van Bommel returned to match action for the last quarter of the game in place of the limping Schweinsteiger, and the FCB captain volleyed high of the target in the closing stages as the pace evaporated from the match. Butt tipped a dipping Aleksandar Vasoski drive over the crossbar, Demichelis had a ‘goal’ incorrectly chalked off for offside, Butt made his best save of the day from Eintracht sub Martin Fenin, and Nikolov thwarted Gomez in a one-on-one.
But it was left to Tymoshchuk to round off the scoring, the Ukrainian completing his first Bundesliga brace on 88 minutes after great work by Ribery and Gomez, wrapping up a satisfactory afternoon for the men from Munich.
Live match report for fcbayern.de by Chris Hamley
Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)
No comments:
Post a Comment