Sunday, April 7, 2013

Bayern Munich wrapped up the Bundiesliga with one Zero

Bayern Munich wrapped up the Bundesliga title with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the Commerzbank Arena. Unsurprisngly, with the title there for the winning, Bayern took the early initiative, with Mario Gomez, Arjen Robben and Alaba all finding space down the wings, but the first effort of note came from Frankfurt as Takashi Inui fired over from distance.

The visitors, however, were certainly the team on top. Some neat build-up play from Robben and Thomas Muller presented Xherdan Shaqiri with the chance to shoot, and the Swiss youngster's long-range effort rattled the post. The former Basel man had another strike saved, Robben narrowly missed Gomez's left-wing cross then in the 26th minute they were presented with a golden opportunity to have a goal to show for their efforts. Marco Russ' shove on Thomas Muller saw the referee point to the spot, but Alaba's penalty was a poor one, striking the post en route to going wide. The miss almost proved costly. Within seconds, a fantastic last-ditch challenge from Jerome Boateng prevented Inui from running clear. Atfter that, the first half fizzled out disappointingly. Nikolov made a great save to keep out Schweinsteiger's cross-shot and Robben had another poor effort, but Bayern largely failed to craft many more chances. Muller had appeals for another a penalty turned down on the stroke of the break, ensuring parity at the halfway point. Jupp Heynckes' side came out with renewed intensity after the restart, with Gomez forcing the ball to Robben under heavy pressure, only for the Dutchman to miss from a matter of yards. But their wastefulness did not continue. Philipp Lahm found some space down the right and fed Schweinsteiger, who flicked it brilliantly into the net at the near post. Despite only trailing by one goal, Frankfurt had no sort of impetus until late on. Indeed, Manuel Neuer was not forced into a save of note until the hour mark, when he was forced to get down to save Inui's tame long-range strike. However, Heynckes withdrew both Robben and Muller which saw Bayern's intensity die down as the hosts enjoyed more possession, resulting in another Inui shot which Neuer blocked easily. Indeed, when they had committed men forward on the attack, a clearance almost had Lahm in on goal, but Nikolov's decision to rush off his line was vindicated when he beat the Bayern captain to the loose ball. The Bavarians were almost forced to put the champagne on ice 10 minutes from time when Stefan Aigner's ball found Srdjan Lakic unmarked, but Neuer was alert enough to make a brilliant save. The former Schalke keeper made another great block second later after a goalmouth scramble following a corner, ensuring that Schweinsteiger's strike was enough for the title.

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