Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski are well-matched. What applies to the pitch was also true in Saturday morning's regeneration session, when they worked out on exercise bicycles side by side. In Friday's 3-1 victory over Mainz they were joined by Thomas Müller and Franck Ribéry in an attacking unit which displayed the ease and fluency that had been missing in Bayern's play in the last few weeks. "It was great fun," Robben commented after the final whistle, and Müller agreed.
Lewandowski scored a brace, Robben clocked up one goal and one assist, Müller set up another goal. The latter was central to Bayern's play on Friday. Carlo Ancelotti modified his system a little, with Müller taking the playmaking role, "my favourite position," the Germany international commented. Mats Hummels spoke of a "masterstroke: we had another option in attacking midfield. I think it's the best position for Thomas. He can roam in the hole at will and is always highly dangerous."
"Our movement was good and we came up with lots of surprises"
Arjen Robben
"I'm delighted for all the forwards. They combined really well," Ancelotti praised. "The first half was really good. We were very active after a bad start and scored two goals." Lewandowski cancelled out Jhon Córdoba's shock fourth-minute opener after eight minutes, before Robben put the Bavarians ahead midway through the first half. "We've not played as well as we did in the first half for some weeks. Our movement was good and we came up with lots of surprises up front, we should have scored more goals," the Dutch ace commented.
"We were in absolute control of the game, displayed outstanding intensity and were as dominant as we'd like to be," analysed Hummels. Mainz upped the pace in the second half, but ran up vainly against Bayern's defence. Lewandowski closed out the game in stoppage-time, netting a sumptuous free-kick.
"It's all up to us"
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
"There's still room for improvement, but it was a step in the right direction," Joshua Kimmich summarised after the victory which handed Bayern top spot in the Bundesliga overnight. Rummenigge spoke of an "utterly deserved victory" and a "marker. It's all up to us. If we continue to play like this we'll be table-toppers during the winter break and have a good chance of winning the German championship title."
Topics of this article