GreenBkk.com FCB | FC Zürich 0 Bayern 1

FC Zürich 0 Bayern 1

Assured Bayern book place in Champions League

23.08.2011

Bayern produced a performance full of composure and authority away to FC Zürich on Tuesday, winning 1-0 on the night and ensuring there were no slip-ups or anxious moments en route to a berth in this season’s Champions League group stage. It was an utterly professional display from the ruggedly determined men in red, who made light of Arjen Robben’s absence from the starting line-up to register a 3-0 aggregate success against last term’s Swiss runners-up.

The boisterous 23,500 capacity crowd at the Letzigrund Stadium in the central European banking metropolis fell silent after just seven minutes, when Mario Gomez handed FCB the early lead which effectively settled the outcome. The men from Munich were content to control possession and do what had to be done after that, although the bulk of the chances still fell to the visitors and better finishing might have brought more than just the one goal.

The comfortable two-leg victory means the Bundesliga giants have eased through the play-offs for the third time in three attempts, and will now contest the Champions League proper for the 15th time since the competition assumed its present form. Thursday evening’s group stage draw will take centre stage for a few hours, before Jupp Heynckes and his troops turn their full focus to Saturday’s tricky Bundesliga fixture away to Kaiserslautern.

A recurrence of Robben’s back problem saw the winger start among the subs, and meant one enforced change to the team which thumped Hamburg on Saturday, Thomas Müller switching out wide and Toni Kroos resuming the playmaking duties. Heynckes’ squad rotation policy also meant Rafinha and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk dropping to the bench, with Jerome Boateng and Luiz Gustavo restored to the side.

Boateng, Daniel van Buyten, Holger Badstuber and captain Philipp Lahm formed the back four, with Gustavo partnering Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franck Ribery and Müller on the flanks, and Kroos operating behind lone striker Gomez

Once French referee Laurent Duhamel whistled play underway, the first chance of the match – just like in the first meeting in Munich – fell to Amine Chermiti, but the Tunisia sharp-shooter curled his shot a couple of yards wide of Manuel Neuer’s goal. Bayern ruthlessly hit back and were a goal up after just seven minutes, Kroos delivering a glorious through ball to release Müller, and Gomez finishing off the move with a low left-footer into the bottom corner of the net, handing the visitors exactly the start they wanted.

With the home side visibly unnerved by the disastrous opening, Müller whistled a long-range effort just wide, and Boateng headed Ribery’s corner past keeper Johnny Leoni’s far stick. FCB eased back a shade midway through the first half, and promising youngster Ricardo Rodriguez drew a fisted save from Neuer with a swerving free-kick into the penalty box danger zone.

The visitors concentrated on keeping possession and passing the ball to and fro after the half-hour mark, seemingly conserving energy ahead of the weekend league clash. The plan almost went wrong on 38 minutes when the defence failed to deal properly with a Dusan Djuric free-kick and Portuguese centre-back Jorge Teixera came up just inches short of an equaliser.

That seemed to shake Munich awake, and although Müller wanted too much time after skilfully controlling a high ball on his chest in the Zürich six-yard box, the best chances before the interval fell to Gomez. After a fast counter-attack, Leoni pushed the striker’s shot away for a corner, from which Gomez headed wastefully over the bar from an unmarked position six yards out.

The Germany striker failed to reappear for the second half after feeling a hamstring go tight, Nils Petersen taking over at centre-forward. The pattern of the match remained the same, with the lion’s share of the ball under FCB’s control and the visitors creating an occasional chance.

Ribery opted to pass towards Müller when he might have had a go himself, and although Admir Mehmedi briefly had a sniff of goal at the other end, the next opening fell to Bayern as Boateng charged forward and found Petersen, only for the ex-Cottbus man to blast over from 20 yards.

Tymoshchuk replaced Kroos with a quarter of the match to play, before the increasingly influential Ribery skipped down the left and exchanged passes with Schweinsteiger, only to be hustled off the ball by some desperate FCZ defending. David Alaba took over from Müller for the closing stages, with Leoni easily claiming Petersen’s angled effort, then doing very well to block another shot by the same player, and finally denying the effervescent Ribery as the Frenchman burst through again.

Badstuber smacked a free-kick into the Zürich wall and Petersen just failed to connect with Ribery’s centre, but the job was in any case done on a very good night indeed for Bayern and all their worldwide fans.

Live match report for fcbayern.de by Chris Hamley

Match stats

FC Zürich - Bayern Munich 0-1 (HT: 0-1)

FC Zürich: Leoni - Philipp Koch, Barmettler, Teixera, Rodriguez - Schönbächler, Aegerter (Gajic 65), Buff, Djuric (Brunner 66) - Chermiti, Mehmedi (Drmic 78)

Bayern Munich: Neuer - Boateng, Van Buyten, Badstuber, Lahm - Gustavo, Schweinsteiger - Müller (Alaba 72), Kroos (Tymoshchuk 64), Ribéry - Gomez (Petersen 46)

Substitutes: Butt, Contento, Rafinha, Robben

Referee: Laurent Duhamel (France)

Spectators: 23,600 (capacity)

Goals: 0-1 Gomez (7)

Yellow Cards: Buff / -

Credit: FC Bayern Munich (www.fcbayern.t-com.de)