Football United

The home side was forced to make several changes to the side which beat Bruges 1-0 in the Champions League in midweek. Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn complained of a knee problem during his warm up before the game. Because his understudy Rensing is sidelined with a shoulder injury, 38 year old amateur keeper coach Bernd Dreher played his first Bundesliga game for four and a half years. Schweinsteiger replaced Lizarazu at left back, Karimi replaced Ballack and Santa Cruz and Jeremies replaced Guerrero and Demichelis respectively.

Wolfsburg’s coach Holger Fach also changed the line-up which beat Frankfurt at home in round 7. He gave Frenchman Steve Marlet his debut, who replaced Levan Tskitishvili in the side. Skipper Pablo Thiam was unable to play due to a thigh problem, his place in the side went to Hans Sarpei. Fach began his side’s first ever visit to the Allianz Arena with three strikers up front.

Dull start
The opening exchanges saw both sides cancelling each other out in midfield, whith neither side prepared to take any risks. Wolfsburg to their credit had not come to Munich just to make up the numbers, and although they tried to take the initiative early on, they rarely troubled the home defence. Bayern for their part made a cautious start to the match, pushing the ball around in a calm and collected way.

No goalmouth action
Chances were few and far between, so as Quiroga blocked a shot by Makaay who had latched onto a low pass by Santa Cruz, the crowd was wakened from its collective snooze for a moment. Up the other end of the pitch, Andres D’Alessandro curled in a corner from the right onto the head of Marlet, who put his effort wide of the angle of bar and post. Bayern was clearly missing the ideas of Ballack in midfield, and the many changes forced upon their coach Felix Magath were having an adverse effect on the game. The Bayern game just creaked along with little or no flowing play. Both defences were on their guard and neither allowed their opponent a clear opportunity during the first 45 minutes which ended goalless.

Wolves make better start
The Wolves began the better of the two sides in the second half, runnung at Bayern whenever they could, albeit to little or no effect. On 50 minutes, Magath brought on his veteran midfielder Mehmet Scholl for the disappointing Iranian Karimi. Scholl’s introduction failed to bring the change his coach had hoped it would and misplaced passes and loss of possession became the order of the day.

Marlet goes agonisingly close
Then out of nothing on 57 minutes, the Wolves almost took the lead. Alex crossed into the Bayern penalty area to Marlet who shook off both Lucio and Sagnol. The Frenchman however was left holding his head in his hands as he saw his effort hit the inside of a post, before trickling along the goal line to Sagnol who cleared the danger. The Wolves stood solid at the back, but it must be said that Bayern rarely threatened them.

A goal out of nothing
On 67 minutes, a set piece changed the direction of the game as Scholl curled in a corner from the left. Roque Santa Cruz rose above the Wolves defence to powerfully head his side in front. Quiroga and Schnoor came too late to stop him. Bayern did not make the mistake of sitting back on their slender lead, but continued to press forward, keeping the Wolves occupied, but without posing much danger. The Wolves for their part, found it increasingly difficult to get behind the home defence.

Lucio scores killer goal
In the first minute of injury time it was game over fort he Wolves. Brazilian defender Lucio began a move inside his own half and ran forward into the Wolfsburg area. Guerro played a one two with Lucio, and the latter rounded Simon Jentzsch in the Wolves goal before firing home a shot from an almost impossible angle to seal the game for Bayern.

BAYERN: Dreher; Sagnol, Lucio, Ismael, Schweinsteiger; Jeremies; Deisler, Zé Roberto; Karimi; Santa Cruz, Makaay.

WOLFSBURG: Jentzsch; Alex, Quiroga, Hofland, Neziri; Karhan, Sarpei; d'Alessandro; Hanke, Klimowicz, Marlet

GOALS: 1-0, Santa Cruz (67'); 2-0 Lucio (91')

BUNDESLIGA

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern 8 21
2. Hamburg 8 20
3. Bremen 8 19
4. Schalke 8 16
5. Hertha 8 14
...
7. Wolfsburg 8 12

Source: vfl-wolfsburg.de