Hoeneß: What a shame it’s taken so long

Asked about Lukas Podolski after a thrilling evening of football at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday, Uli Hoeneß adopted an almost wistful tone. “Lukas was outstanding. It’s a shame it’s taken so long for him to deliver that kind of performance,” the general manager said after arguably Poldi’s best game in a Bayern shirt.

The Cologne-bound striker had a significant hand in all three of Bayern’s goals against Leverkusen. He provided neat lay-offs for Luca Toni and Franck Ribéry to make the score 2-0, before stroking home a relatively simple third from Bastian Schweinsteiger’s assist. Podolski is now up to six goals this term, but he has been involved in six of the club’s last eight goals in the Bundesliga. “If he’d always played like that, he probably wouldn’t be going back to Cologne now,” reflected Hoeneß.