Classic Bayern virtues come to the fore

Had Bayern been forced into extra-time and potentially penalties in the DFB Cup last sixteen away to Eintracht Frankfurt, night-flying restrictions in the banking metropolis meant the team would have been in danger of missing the last take-off slot and spending half the night in the team bus, heading wearily south on the Autobahn. Fear, as everyone knows, is a great motivator.

However, that was probably not the main reason behind the 14-time winners’ emphatic 4-0 win in front of a 51,500 capacity crowd at the Commerzbank Arena. The more likely explanation was Bayern’s return to something approaching peak form, and in particular a cracking evening for the strikers. Miroslav Klose (14 and 19 minutes), Thomas Müller (29) and Luca Toni (52) found the net as Munich comfortably negotiated the third hurdle between themselves and the final in Berlin.