Driven Daniel plays to his strengths

Miroslav Klose’s status as the player who delivered the most shots at goal for Bayern against Hannover comes as little surprise. Klose is a centre-forward whose job is to score goals. Much more of a revelation after Saturday’s encounter was Daniel van Buyten’s position dead level with his team-mate on four goal attempts.

Van Buyten’s primary task is to prevent goals at the other end. Indeed, the Belgian lies third in the Bundesliga rankings with 70 percent of his challenges won. However, the 1.96m (6 ft 5 in) defender, who has never served a ban for collecting five yellow cards in a season, always goes forward for set plays. He duly nodded home Bastian Schweinsteiger’s expert delivery on 20 minutes to cancel out Hannover’s opening goal last Saturday, setting Bayern on their way to an ultimately emphatic 5-1 win.

“I’m delighted the team showed the right reaction after my goal,” commented Van Buyten, “it was an important goal for me, for the coach, and for the club.” It was Daniel’s third Bundesliga goal in just 12 appearances to date, equalling his total two years ago in his first season with Munich.