FC Bayern enjoyed a relatively relaxed time after Friday evening's 5-0 DFB Cup victory over fourth tier outfit Carl Zeiss Jena. Instead of a hectic trip to the airport the Munich men spent the night in Thuringia, where they took to exercise bicycles for a regeneration session on Saturday morning.
"The first round of the cup isn't always so easy to play," commented Robert Lewandowski, aware that banana skins often litter the way in the early knockout stages. "Jena have already played four league matches, winning all of them and keeping a clean sheet," said Joshua Kimmich, taking the Regionalliga table-toppers seriously, "we knew it wouldn't be easy."
FC Bayern cleared the first cup hurdle for the 22nd time in a row, mainly thanks to a hat-trick by their top scorer. After only three minutes Lewandowski frustrated the home faithful at the venerable Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld, scoring Bayern's earliest cup goal since 2005. The Poland international took his tally to three before the interval. "It was a little easier then," commented Kimmich.
Bremen? 'The players are ready'
The striker took a sober view of his hat-trick. "I scored three goals, but the most important thing is that we've made it to the next round," explained Lewandowski, who scored his goals number 68, 69 and 70 in competitive fixtures for FC Bayern. After the break he shone as he set up Vidal, who went on to make it four. Mats Hummels sealed the final scoreline with a header, his first goal for Bayern in a competitive fixture.
"Scoring goals is the most beautiful thing in football, even for defenders," Hummels admitted after his maiden strike. Kimmich added: "It's good to know we have someone who's effective with his head." Hummels himself is pleased: "They weren't exactly opponents like Dortmund last week, but it was a good test for us."
From now on the focus is on the Bundesliga restart against Werder Bremen on Friday at 20.30 CET. "They're a completely different team of course, we need a better performance on Friday," Manuel Neuer cautioned. "There's room for improvement, especially in terms of taking our chances and our passing play." Lewandowski agreed: "The coach has new ideas which we have yet to absorb. But it's getting better ever week!" Carlo Ancelotti is confident: "The players are ready!"
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