Schweinsteiger? Van Buyten? Neither was in the matchday squad. Müller? Kroos? Mandzukic? Alaba? All four spent the game on the bench. Jupp Heynckes made no fewer than six changes to his team for Saturday's meeting with Werder Bremen. Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez, Jerome Boateng, Luiz Gustavo, Xherdan Shaqiri and Diego Contento came into the side – and Bayern cruised to a 6-1 victory. “Every player justified my faith in him," the head coach declared, with Dutch ace Robben and Germany hitman Gomez chief among them.
The pair were involved in five of Bayern's half-dozen goals. Robben scored the opener and provided the assists for two more, while Gomez helped himself to a brace and pressured Bremen defender Theodor Gebre Selassie into putting through his own goal. “When we do get to play, we try and go for it. And I think everyone who played today succeeded in that," Gomez said afterwards.
It was only the second time last season's top scorer has started a match since the mid-season break, but he is professional enough to accept the situation. “It is how it is. The team is doing sensationally well, so there's no compelling reason to change things around," he mused, “it's obviously difficult for those of us out of the team. But we do everything we can to ensure we remain successful as a club."
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