Bayern answer critics with solid team display

It's hard to believe, but it all started with blue and white, for those were the club colours chosen by the founding fathers when they met to form FC Bayern Munich on 27 February 1900. Just a day short of 112 years later, a game against a team in blue and white marked a fresh start. “It's a first step in the right direction," declared Christian Nerlinger following Sunday's 2-0 victory over Schalke. The result means FCB, who have now played in a variant of red and white for fully 106 years, recovered second place in the Bundesliga, “and gave the right answer," as Nerlinger put it, to two substandard performances against Freiburg and Basel.

“We were in a troubled situation," opined the Bayern director of sport, “but our fighting spirit and our football were totally convincing today. The games against Freiburg and Basel have made the team rediscover the right routines. They've pulled themselves together, and come together too."