For FCB and their fans, it was a great Saturday afternoon, featuring an entertaining Bundesliga contest with wonderful Bayern goals, the long-awaited return of Bastian Schweinsteiger, and slip-ups by the chasing pack. It all means FC Bayern now hold a seven-point lead at the top of the table. “I definitely won’t have any trouble getting to sleep. That was a matchday where everything’s gone Bayern Munich’s way. Perfect,” declared Karl-Heinz Rummenigge with a broad smile on his face after the 4-0 home win against TSG Hoffenheim.
Mario Götze gave FCB the lead on 23 minutes with a brilliant long-range effort. The opener came at just the right moment as Hoffenheim looked impressive up to that point. “Some of our passes were sloppy in the build-up. Hoffenheim had one or two decent chances,” said Manuel Neuer. His team-mate Sebastian Rode added: “Hoffenheim were as tough as we expected. They put us under pressure and we didn’t get into our stride early on.”
Bayern upped their game after the Götze goal and went on to thrill the fans with some outstanding moves. One of those ended with the impressive Robert Lewandowski heading FCB into a two-goal lead on 40 minutes. The game drifted after the restart. “We didn’t find our rhythm,” said Arjen Robben. But the encounter picked up again in the closing stages: Robben stroked the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-0 on 82 minutes and Rode came off the bench to score his first Bayern goal with three minutes to play.
Looking forward to Man City
“It feels really, really good. It’s twice as good at home,” reported the former Eintracht Frankfurt man. Schweinsteiger, who provided a perfect assist for Rode’s goal, shared the celebrations: “Sebastian is a really, really good bloke. He’s earned it.” Bayern chalked up the next clear victory and the German champions have now gone 16 games unbeaten in the Bundesliga.
And that has been achieved without a number of key players. “We’ve got lots of injuries but we can still put out a top side. Nearly all the players on the pitch today were internationals. We’ve got a first rate squad,” declared Rummenigge. Summer signing Rode was confident in asserting: “We don’t want to drop any points before the winter break.”
Before Bayern travel to Hertha Berlin on Saturday there is the no small matter of Tuesday’s Champions League match at Manchester City. A great fixture is in prospect, although Bayern are under no pressure as the group is already won. “We’re not going there saying: we’ll take it easy and see what happens,” said Robben. Neuer is looking forward to a “very special stage. The Champions League is always great.”
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