Created on 02-11-2008 at 00:00 AM
Jürgen Klinsmann called it a “game of patience,” but general manager Uli Hoeneß felt it was “spectacular stuff.” Bayern’s 3-1 victory over Arminia Bielefeld had something for every single one of the 69,000 spectators in the 75th capacity crowd to gather at the Allianz Arena. The only thing missing was tedium, because what the champions offered their fans was, in Hoeneß's words, “an attacking onslaught, the like of which I’ve not seen for a long time.”
The match stats showed Bayern won the shot count 37-2, earned 20 corners to their opponents’ none, and chalked up 65 percent of the possession – even on their home turf, rarely has a Bayern team dominated their opponents so thoroughly as Klinsmann’s men on Saturday against the side in fifteenth. To cap it all, Arminia keeper Dennis Eilhoff topped his team’s rankings with 46 touches of the ball, and even that was less than half as many as FCB captain Mark van Bommel (98).