Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Philipp Lahm and the rest of the Bayern squad left the Audi Sportpark on Saturday with smiles on their faces. Matchday 20 of the Bundesliga could not have gone better for FCB. Bayern came through a difficult match against FC Ingolstadt with a 2-0 win after two goals in the dying minutes, while the six teams below them all lost.
Those results mean the Bavarians are now seven points clear of nearest challengers Leipzig at the top of the table, and 15 ahead of Borussia Dortmund in fourth. “We’re thoroughly happy, it’s been a fantastic day for us,” said Rummenigge afterwards.
Bayern had to work hard for their three points against ‘die Schanzer’, though. “It was a difficult game against an opponent who largely just defended and played a lot of long balls. They were very aggressive when it came to the first, second and third ball,” said Philipp Lahm. With their compact defensive unit, FCI managed to keep FCB out of their penalty area. “We accepted it and knew it’d be a battle,” continued the captain.
Bayern had come close to scoring on three occasions. Lewandowski’s lob from the edge of the area was clawed off the line by Matip in the 20th minute, before Müller’s shot through the legs of Hansen was also blocked on the line shortly after the break, this time by Hadergjonaj. Lewandowski then went close again in the 83rd minute when he smashed the ball against the corner of the woodwork.
Confidence for Arsenal game
In the 90th minute, Arturo Vidal managed to finally break the deadlock and put the ball in the back of the net, sparking great celebrations among the Bayern players. When Arjen Robben made it 2-0 just 60 seconds later, no one in a red and white shirt could contain themselves as the whole bench leapt up and celebrated with the team. “We enjoy victories, particularly when they come so late. To get the three points shows what this team’s about,” declared Lahm, who made his 502nd competitive appearance for Bayern to overtake Bern Dürnberger in seventh place in FCB’s all-time list of most appearances.
“It was an important win for us which we had to fight hard for. We had to up the tempo in the second half and in the end we got our reward,” said coach Carlo Ancelotti in his assessment of the game. “I’m happy with the performance. We had to show great character. It’s a good result and one which gives us a lot of confidence for Wednesday,” added the Italian.
CEO Rummenigge is also looking forward to the upcoming Champions League round of 16 duel against Arsenal with optimism after yesterday’s performance. “We saw today that our team can deliver at the right moments. They showed that in the second half.”
Now it’s a case of taking that confidence and recuperating before Wednesday – something that’s easy when you have a smile on your face.
Topics of this article