“Goliath” Bayern wobbled but didn’t fall down on Wednesday evening, thus keeping alive the Bavarian dream of three trophies this term. After progressing to the DFB Cup semi-finals with an ultimately clear-cut 6-2 victory over Greuther Fürth, the principle emotion in the FCB camp was relief at not suffering a shock knockout blow against the visiting “David” from the second division.
“Greuther Fürth were outstanding. They were lively and had a good strategy,” Louis van Gaal said in praise afterwards. Munich are now undefeated in 14 competitive fixtures, but the visitors from Franconia more than matched their illustrious hosts in the first half and took a not undeserved 2-1 lead into the dressing room with them at half-time. “It was the first time I was slightly worried it might go wrong,” admitted director of sport Christian Nerlinger.
The 53,500 at the freezing Allianz Arena saw a makeshift Bayern side get off to the perfect start when Thomas Müller tucked away the first chance after just five minutes. “The goal meant it was a good start, but we lost concentration. We weren’t aggressive enough and chose the wrong options,” complained club captain Mark van Bommel.
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