Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). “We wanted to win the match,” said Mats Hummels, defender of FC Bayern, after the last go in the preliminary round of the Champions League (CL) against Atlético Madrid that the reigning men’s Premier League champion trained by Carlo Ancelotti won with 1:0. Watched by 70 000 spectators in the stadium, and us from WELTEXPRESS in the Hofbräu Berlin, together with a whole lot of fans on the eve of St. Nicholas Day.
Player of the day was Robert Lewandowski, who scored with a beautiful lob in the 28th minute after Bayern got a free kick. The hosts were close to a second more than once, Douglas Costa failing in front of goalkeeper Oblak, then Arjen Robben making nothing out of a penalty, and Thiago blundering when a great opportunity came up in the middle of the second half. A thorough Madrilenian defence stood firm, but the guests tried little else, although they did not play with a B-team as Bayern. After all, Yannick Carrasco had two good chances in the first half, but failed due to goalie Manuel Neuer.
On the whole, Bayern dominated the match, easily winning the Champions League at home against the semi-final opponents of the pre-season. According to Neuer, this was “good for the ego”. Not good for the game was that it could not change Madrid remaining first and Munich second in their group, the game thus lacking the necessary pep. Bayern lost two out of three away games, in Rostov and Madrid by one goal only, but that still meant 0 points. After all, Munich won 2: 1 in Eindhoven and all three home games. After six games in Group D, the Bavarians are in second place with twelve points and likely to get a big chunk in the round of 16. The first knockout round of the CL will be drawn next Monday.
The line-up:
FC Bayern München: Neuer – Rafinha, Hummels, Alaba, Bernat – Thiago, Vidal, Sanches – Robben (83rd Kimmich), Lewandowski (80th Müller), Douglas Costa (87th Martinez)
Atlético Madrid: Oblak – Vrsaljko, Godín, Savic, Lucas – Saul, Gabi, Koke (68th Party), Gaitán (60th Correa) – Griezmann, Carrasco (60th Gameiro)
