BL, MD25: FC Bayern München 2 - 1 Bayer Leverkusen

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Bundesliga 2007/08, Matchday 25
FC Bayern München v Bayer Leverkusen

Stadium: Allianz Arena, Munich
Kick-off: Saturday, 22 March 2008, 15.30h

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Bayern are fired up and ready to go in the last top-of-the-table clash of the season this Saturday, when third-placed Bayer Leverkusen visit the Allianz Arena. After draws with Bremen and Hamburg, and victory away to Schalke, a win at the weekend would see the Bavarians put nine points between themselves and the men from the Rhineland.

“The pressure’s on Leverkusen, not us,” commented Bayern captain Oliver Kahn, “we could knock Leverkusen out of the title race.“ Victory over Bayer would hardly hand Bayern the championship shield on a plate, but given the fixtures through to the end of the season – almost all the remaining title aspirants still have to face each other – it would represent a major stride towards a 21st German league title.

No more slip-ups

“I hope we keep going where we left off against Wolfsburg,” remarked chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Bayern bounced back from last weekend’s shock 2-0 defeat away to bottom club Energie Cottbus with a thoroughly convincing win over the Wolves in the German Cup semi-finals. “We need to prove we can get the job done in the Bundesliga. We can’t afford any more slip-ups, because it’s still tight at the top, despite our five-point lead.“

“Wednesday’s win will give us a real lift. If we beat Leverkusen, we’ll keep a title rival safely at arm’s length,” coach Ottmar Hitzfeld agreed. However, the General and his men know Bayer are certain to prove a tougher proposition than Wolfsburg in the Cup.

Hitzfeld expects stern challenge

“They’re an attacking team who pass the ball exceptionally well. I do think it’ll be a very hard match,” offered Miroslav Klose, keen to return to the Bundesliga goal trail after netting against the Wolves. “Leverkusen are dangerous rivals. They’ll definitely be looking for a point, or even all three. We just have to play like we did against Wolfsburg,” Franck Ribéry added.

“Leverkusen are having a good season. The team has bags of potential,” Hitzfeld warned ahead of final training in Munich on Friday. “If you let them get going, they can wipe the floor with anyone,” the General continued, urging his men to produce a solid and disciplined performance: “We’ll have to put in a lot of very hard work.“

Skibbe aiming for a point

Hitzfeld made no secret of his relief at the return of Mark van Bommel from suspension. “He’s a leader who drives the team on. I’m delighted he’s available again.“ Luca Toni, banned in the Cup, also returns to the line-up. The General is without Christian Lell (suspended) and Willy Sagnol (injured).

Leverkusen have won many admirers this term with an attractive brand of attacking football, “but we’d be happy to come away with a point,“ boss Michael Skibbe confessed. His players would like more than that: “Every series comes to an end, and it’s time this one did,“ midfielder Simon Rolfes declared in the light of Bayer’s failure to win in Munich for some 18 years, but Skibbe remained realistic: “Bayern are outstanding and dependable, and that won’t change over the remaining games. We’re not consistent enough yet.“

Probable line-ups:

Bayern Munich: Kahn - Lahm, Lucio, Demichelis, Jansen - Altintop, van Bommel, Zé Roberto, Ribéry - Klose, Toni
Also in matchday squad: Rensing, Van Buyten, Breno, Ottl, Sosa, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Schlaudraff, Kroos

Bayer Leverkusen: Adler - Castro, Haggui, Friedrich, Sarpei - Vidal, Rolfes - Kießling, Barbarez, Barnetta - Gekas

Referee: Florian Meyer (Burgdorf)

Bayern’s record in the fixture: P28 W21 D5 L2 F64 A25

[Munchen Minded]

Since we beat Wolfsburg so well without Toni and MvB, then I would assume we can handle Leverkusen with them. It really is nice to get MvB, as he is much better than Ottl or Schweini combined, and its good to have a duel DM system with him and Ze -- especially since Leverkusen will more than likely attack.

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It sucks that Lell won't play due to suspension. I just don't like Lahm anymore.

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The match will be televised live from those TV channels:

ATV Austria
Bundesliga 5
DigitAlb SuperSport 3
Dubai Sports 2
Federalna TV
NTV Spor
NTV+ Sport On-Line
Premiere Sport Portal
Sky Calcio 11
Sport 1 (Ned)
Sport 1 (Ukr)
Sport 5+ LIVE
Sport N
SportKlub (Hungary)
SportKlub (Poland)
SportKlub (Romania)
Sportmania
SuperSport 4 [Hellas]
TV2 Sport (Den)
Viasat Sport 1
Viasat Sport HD

[Vargas_4]

I hope we can pull off a win here. We have drawn (1-1) with all major Bundesliga teams (Hamburg, Schalke, Bremen) at home. I hope this doesn't happen again.

We have to show that we can beat tough sides at home.

[RunX]

We Want A big Win todaaay
forza bayern 4 live
Klose(2)
Ribery(1)
3-0 ! For Us

[Oliver_Kahn]

The key to this match is to stop Barnetta from providing Barbarez with crosses and Kiessling/Gekas with through balls. If we can do that, Leverkusen won't pose much of a treat, that is if Schneider doesn't play.

Barnetta mostly plays on the right, although he roams around much, so most of the times he'll face Jansen, which is good. But Skibe of course scouted Bayern well and knows that Lahm is in shit form, so he might stick Barnetta more to he left side and have Gekas and Kiessling switching between right and center.

[vampyrian]

Bayern won 2-1 and despite the close result it was a pretty good match from Bayern (stupid Adler). I'm happy We're currently 7 points ahead of HSV and Werder too if they win tomorrow.

[Munchen Minded]

We're back to a 7 point lead. If only we had beat cottbus it would have been more! But its not over yet, although all of the top teams get to play each other and that should hopefully give Bayern a bigger lead. I was actually impressed more today with Lahm, and even schweini and Poldi when they came on. The first time this second half that those players looked good. Of course the rest of the team was solid, and Micho was huge at the back. Thanks to Ribery and Toni's performance, they rocked!!

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Munchen Minded

We're back to a 7 point lead. If only we had beat cottbus it would have been more! But its not over yet, although all of the top teams get to play each other and that should hopefully give Bayern a bigger lead. I was actually impressed more today with Lahm, and even schweini and Poldi when they came on. The first time this second half that those players looked good. Of course the rest of the team was solid, and Micho was huge at the back. Thanks to Ribery and Toni's performance, they rocked!!

Me too, I thought he was very good today. Great assist to Luca Toni as well.
It was probably Lahm's best performance of the season.

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It's a good win, an easy taken one, even though the scoreline might not suggest so. We dominated this one, Leverkusen rarely tested us. We had so many chances, it's a shame we didn't concretise a few more of them, we could have won by three or four goals to nil, at least.

I feel sorry for Klose, his goal-dry continues, same shit for him, just another day. At least he has started playing good again now. I liked his performance today, he provided Toni the assist for the 1-0 goal, and also made some very great passes. Had some very clearcut chances, shouldn't have missed them.

Lahm was good today, surprisingly. A lot active, and provided the assist for 2-0.

Luca Toni as always, the goalmachine. It's great to have him in the team. Top class striker, league's top scorer, 16 goals. Had one clearcut chance, how could he miss that. Could have been the hattrick.

Ribéry didn't impress me much today, for some reason Leverkusen players didn't have it tough against him, they easy stopped Franck.

Van Bommel didn't impress me much either, made some wrong tackles. His crosses/passes were perfect though.

Podolski was very good also, could have scored only 30 seconds after getting in, was unfortunate. Had another clearcut chance, missed it also. Should have scored.

Schweini also deserves praise, he did good for how much he played. I loved his move when he owned two Leverkusen players.(remember?).

Kahn is a legend, there are not many keepers who could have saved what he saved today with his leg/foot.

Micho was top class once again, Lucio and Jansen weren't bad either. Hamit and Zé Roberto were also active.

We have a 7 point definite lead now, with Hamburg. If Werder doesn't win tomorrow, our lead with them remains on 10 points. Things looking good again now.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Kahn's save was instinct more than anything, but still, it was out of this world.

[Vargas_4]

Really happy about this win. Good effort.

I'm glad to see we were able to beat a top side in our own stadium.

Really happy with the 7 pt lead.

But the work has just started. We must build on this win.

^^ About Kahn, we will never be able to "replace him". We'll have another quality keeper like that in a couple of decades. We just have to find the best keeper who will do a good job.

Even i'm starting to lose faith in Rensing, and that's bad news for him. I was the only one around here who actually trusted the guy.

He better get a game soon so he can show what he's worth.

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Luca Toni netted a brace as Bayern saw off third-placed Bayer far more easily than the scoreline suggests to stretch their lead at the top of the Bundesliga.

The 69,000 full house at the Allianz Arena erupted on 17 minutes to acclaim Luca Toni's ninth opening goal of the league campaign, but the leaders were careless with a string of chances after that and were grateful to captain Olli Kahn for preserving the half-time lead with a blinding save from Sergej Barbarez.

If Bayern enjoyed the better of the first period they utterly dominated the second, Toni completing his brace on the hour to put the men in red firmly on the way to victory. Only Bayer keeper Rene Adler stood between Munich and a cricket score for long spells after that, but Leverkusen sub Dmitriy Bulykin pulled one back out of the blue with seven minutes remaining

Luca and Philipp restored

Ottmar Hitzfeld relaxed his exhaustive rotation policy of recent weeks, making just two changes to the side which beat Wolfsburg in the Cup on Wednesday. Philipp Lahm replaced the suspended Christian Lell, with Toni back in the side for Lukas Podolski.

Bayer boss Michael Skibbe caused a raised eyebrow or two with a much more attacking formation than expected, fielding veteran Bernd Schneider in a midfield playmaking role behind four nominal forwards in the shape of Stefan Kießling, Barbarez, Tranquilo Barnetta and Theofanis Gekas.

Luca, yet again

Toni had the ball in the net after just five minutes only to be ruled offside, and the highly-rated Adler tipped Ze Roberto's deflected shot over the bar, but Lucio was forced into a crucial intervention at the other end after Barnetta's backheel sent Kießling scampering clear.

But Bayern clearly held the upper hand and were rewarded after 17 minutes when Franck Ribery released Miro Klose on the edge of the six-yard box, the Germany striker unselfishly squaring for Toni to burst between two defenders and slot home from close range.

Heroics from Kahn

Leverkusen full-back Hans Sarpei made a desperate late clearance when Ze elected to cross from Klose's sublime defensive-splitting pass, but there was a let-off for the home side on the half-hour when Barbarez diverted Schneider's drive goalwards, only for Kahn to hack the ball clear with his left foot despite going the wrong way in anticipation of the original shot.

After a brief lull, the Bavarians mounted another onslaught as the half drew to a close, but Klose declined three highly presentable openings, first directing a header wide, then falling victim to a Sarpei block, and finally seeing Adler pull out a stunning reaction stop to keep out a firm downward header from Hamit Altintop's cross.

Luca completes brace

Klose was out of luck again from the first chance after the restart, nodding over from close range after Demichelis' header back across goal, but Toni made no mistake with the next opportunity, rising above the statuesque Bayer defence and planting a firm header past Adler from Lahm's energetic dash into the box and cross to the far post.

The Italian blasted over with only Adler to beat and the keeper made yet another great stop to deny Demichelis as Bayern threatened to overrun the despondent visitors, but Adler's resistance continued with a brave double block from late sub Podolski.

Bayer appeared to have thrown in the towel, but Bulykin's late strike from fellow sub Paul Freier's neat lay-off set up a far more nervous finish than the course of the match ever deserved.

Bayern Munich - Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 (H-T: 1-0)

Bayern Munich:		Kahn - Lahm, Lucio, Demichelis, Jansen - Altintop, Van Bommel, Zé Roberto, Ribéry (Schweinsteiger 77) - Toni, Klose (Podolski 77)
Substitutes:		Rensing, Van Buyten, Ottl, Sosa, Kroos
Bayer Leverkusen:		Adler - Castro, Haggui, Friedrich, Sarpei - Schneider Rolfes - Kießling (Bulykin 78), Barbarez (Vidal 46), Barnetta - Gekas (Freier 46)
Referee:		Mr Meyer (Burgdorf)
Spectators:		69,000 (capacity)
Goals:		1-0 Toni (17), 2-0 Toni (59), 2-1 Bulykin (83)
Yellow Cards:		Van Bommel / Vidal, Castro, Sarpei