Alemannia Aachen v FC Bayern 0-4
Impressive holders cruise into cup semi-finals
Aachen has proved Bayern’s DFB Cup graveyard twice in the last seven years, but there was no repeat of second division Alemannia’s giant-killing in Wednesday night’s quarter-final tie, as the holders from Munich progressed to the last four with only the minimum of fuss.
The 32,190 capacity crowd at the superbly appointed New Tivoli saw Bayern bide their time for the first quarter of the game, before Mario Gomez clinically opened the scoring on 26 minutes. The visitors comfortably protected the lead through to half-time and might have gone two up straight after the restart, but the minnows made a real fight of it after the hour mark and young Thomas Kraft pulled off a couple of crucial saves.
Bayern duly weathered the storm, and sub Arjen Robben set up Thomas Müller to double the lead 15 minutes from time. The Germany international completed his brace to put the issue beyond doubt with ten minutes left, and Robben confirmed his astonishing recovery of form after his six-month lay-off with a fourth at the death as the Bavarians made the cup semi-finals for a record 22nd time.
Louis van Gaal made two changes to the team which thrashed Kaiserslautern 5-1 at the weekend. Andreas Ottl replaced Mark van Bommel, now an AC Milan player after leaving FCB on a free transfer on Tuesday, with Hamit Altintop deputising for Arjen Robben, on the bench but not fully over a cold.
As expected, Philipp Lahm took over the captain’s armband from Van Bommel. In terms of Van Gaal’s formation, Luiz Gustavo started at left-back, with Danijel Pranjic alongside Ottl in the midfield holding role, and Bastian Schweinsteiger directing operations in behind Gomez.
Once referee Michael Wiener whistled play underway on a damp and chilly evening on the German-Dutch border, the Bundesliga champions soon had the game under control, although no quarter was asked or given in the first 15 minutes as the teams practised risk avoidance and tight defending, with plenty of snap in the tackle from both sides.
Former 1860 Munich man Benjamin Auer speared the first real chance of the night wide of Thomas Kraft’s far post midway through the first half, although an opener for the home team would have been entirely against the run of play. The holders showed how it should be done on 26 minutes with a goal of utter simplicity, Altintop sending Luiz Gustavo clear on the overlap, and the unmarked Gomez nodding home the Brazilian’s pinpoint cross from six yards.
Pranjic and Ottl both tried their luck from outside the box as Alemannia massed in their own third of the field, but the resulting corners came to nothing. Auer then had a reasonable shout for a penalty waved aside after a Luiz Gustavo challenge in the box, although Munich’s winter signing probably got something on the ball.
Aachen keeper David Hohs threw himself bravely at Gomez’s feet to deny the FCB hitman a second, and although the club’s top scorer had the ball in the net three minutes from the interval, the match official had spotted an earlier foul on home centre-back Tobias Feisthammel.
Thomas Müller was denied by Hohs five minutes after the restart as FCB smoothly picked up where they left off in the first half, and the home keeper made an even better save to thwart Gomez after the striker’s neat interchange with Müller four minutes later. Hohs plucked Altintop’s near-post cross out of the air following a rapid-fire passing move, but Auer caused a spot of bother in front of Kraft on the hour as the home side injected more urgency into their play and the crowd came to life for the first time.
Kraft redeemed himself for a couple of moments of uncertainty with a splendid reaction save from Feisthammel’s point-blank header, but Gomez was mere inches away from increasing his side’s lead from a Lahm centre, and then saw his shot at an empty net blocked after Müller had brilliantly drawn a defender and keeper Hohs out of position.
Young keeper Kraft tipped sub Kevin Kratz’ cross-cum-shot behind for a corner, before Van Gaal sent on Robben in place of Altintop for the last 20 minutes. The Dutchman made an immediate impact with a darting run and superbly weighted crossfield pass on 76 minutes, for Müller to control on the left edge of the box, step inside and slide home through Hohs’ legs.
Müller completed his brace with ten minutes to go after an exchange of passes with Gomez inside the Aachen area, the Germany starlet expertly controlling a bouncing ball before slotting home past Hohs’ left hand. Miro Klose replaced Gomez for the dying minutes, but Aachen refused to go without a fight and sub Bilal Cubukcu cracked a shot into the side-netting.
There was still time for Robben to crown a terrific cameo appearance with his side’s fourth on 88 minutes, after Schweinsteiger capitalised on a schoolboy howler in the home defence. All in all, it was a convincing and professional display by the holders, who will now be considered runaway favourites to retain the trophy in May.
Chris Hamley at the Tivoli for fcbayern.de
MATCH STATS
Alemannia Aachen - Bayern Munich 0-4 (H-T: 0-1)
Alemannia Aachen: Hohs - Demai, Stehle, Feisthammel, Achenbach - Junglas - Höger, Arslan (Radu 74), Radjabali-Fardi (Kratz 55) - Auer, Stieber (Cubukcu 82)
Substitutes: Unger, Casper, Kratz, Tsoumou, Gueye
Bayern Munich: Kraft - Lahm, Tymoshchuk, Badstuber, Luiz Gustavo - Ottl, Pranjic - Hamit Altintop (Robben 72), Schweinsteiger, Müller – Gomez (Klose 83)
Substitutes: Butt, Breno, Jüllich, Deul
Referee: Michael Weiner (Giesen)
Spectators: 32,190 (capacity)
Goals: 0-1 Gomez (26), 0-2 Müller (76), 0-3 Müller (80), 0-4 Robben (88)
Yellow Cards: Junglas / -
Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)
No comments:
Post a Comment