Frustration as goals dry up for baffled Bayern

As is so often the case when Bayern host a struggling team, the match stats easily favoured FCB against Köln on Saturday, with 65 percent of the possession, a 16-4 win on shots, nine corners to Köln’s none, and 29 crosses to the visitors’ three. However, when it came to the one stat which really matters, the game remained stubbornly goalless, to the dismay of another 69,000 full house at the Allianz Arena.

“We’re disappointed not to win,” Bayern boss Louis van Gaal said after a match in which ultra-defensive Köln never once seriously troubled home keeper Jörg Butt. “They strung ten men across the park five yards outside their penalty area. It was hard finding a way through,” reflected Andreas Ottl, one of the closest to breaking the deadlock with a blaster into the side-netting a minute from time.