Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). For friends of that Bavarian club of fame and finance the best place to watch a Bayern game is in the so-called “Kaiserklo”, the Stadium on the highway to Munich – or amidst an atmosphere that comes close to it. As fan of the Red and Whites, resident or visitor of the German capital, your choice can only be the Hofbräuhaus Berlin, your arena to cheer them on to victory.
So we from Weltexpress knew we where into something again the night the two teams met for the quarter final, first leg. After 8 pm, lots of fans with flags and all that other gear took to the top floor of the Hofbräu. Below loads of fellows and lasses from all over the world with a bit of the Bavarian look were already seated at every table, taken off by a Bavarian brass music band and ordering pint after pint. So did the fan-folk, plenty of Hofbräu Original, Hofbräu Dunkel and Weissbier from Munich – not Berliner Weisse for sure. And no Maibock – there’s time to drink that up to the Champions League Final in Milan on May, 28 and then ‘beat the Spaniards yet.’
Before that, we keep going with HB Beer and wait and wish for Bayern to win three more times. Yesterday against Benfica they laid the foundation for the next round, even though it went a bit wobbly. The Red and Whites won but didn’t play up to high hopes, Arturo Vidal scoring their one and only goal in the second minute already. Afterwards, the game on the whole was more of a yawn.
And of possibilities they made nothing of like Thomas Müller’s miss in the 20th, Thiago’s lob on Müller who then tried it again in the 33rd or Vidal in the 36th who had the 2:0 on his foot. But the Bayern boys were up to the end never really in a position to score once more, or Ederson of Benfica prevented a worse result.
Benfica now tried to settle the game with fast pace counterattacks. Nicolás Gaitán had the chance to make it even just before halftime. Then Jonas failed twice as did Konstantinos Mitroglou with odds on a tie in the 57th. Coming up to the end, however, Bayern had more of the game. Robert Lewandowski, although freestanding before Ederson, did not grasp the moment in the 89th but passed the ball badly on to Philipp Lahm alongside. So it stayed 1:0 very much to the disappointment of 70 000 spectators in Munich and a few hundred in the Hofbräu Berlin.
The FC Bayern disclosed during the encounter too many mistakes, especially with passes and building up the game. But Benfica could not do better. It gives Bayern and their fans hope on reaching the semi-finals for the fifth time. If Müller and Lewandowski instead of letting good opportunities lie by succeed placing ‘the round into the square,’ then it should come true.
On the other hand, it is probably difficult for the incumbent and pending German champions to break open in Lisbon the double defensive bolt of the Portuguese. They are likely to be standing very close to each other shortening the spaces. Benfica coach Rui Vitória will fight at home “for every centimeter”, so he exclaimed.
No goal for the guests in Munich was good. In other words, that the guests did not score an away goal was the best one could say of the game. Because if Bayern during the second leg in Lisbon score again, and even if only once, then Benfica will have to score three to be in the semi-finals. Who however could do that? Goal-Getter Jonas has seen yellow and can only watch the game.
The celebration tankards could be filled to the brim then after all those beers before and during the game in Lisbon and at Hofbräu Berlin – but Maibock we drink here only at the CL final in Milan.
