Back in early February, when Bayern general manager Uli Hoeneß announced over the stadium PA ahead of the Bundesliga encounter with Werder Bremen that the Nabburg Fan Club had won this year's annual 'dream fixture' against the Bayern senior side, the Upper Palatinate region began celebrating the spectacular event to come.
The great day finally arrived on Sunday, as 14,000 spectators crammed into the terraces and temporary stands at the Amberg stadium to witness Bayern play live. It was definitely worth the effort, as Jürgen Klinsmann's side ran up their first double-figure score of the pre-season period with an 11-1 victory against a Fan Club XI strengthened with a number of helpers from the fourth, fifth and sixth divisions.
Lell shows the way
Christian Lell set the men from Munich on their way with the fifth-minute opener, before Deniz Yilmaz doubled the advantage ten minutes later. Bayern were a trifle careless with their chances for a spell after that and were duly punished on 26 minutes when 35-year-old Alexander Götz pulled one back. That was to prove a consolation strike, albeit at an early stage in the match, for a Nabburg side represented at various points in the game by more than 20 players.
Mark van Bommel (38), Martin Demichelis (42) and trialist Joseph Ngwenya (43) made sure FCB pulled comfortably clear before the interval, and the margin could have been considerably greater had it not been for a number of good saves by sixth-division keeper Stefan Wiederer.
Kroos tops scoring charts
The goals continued to rattle in after the break, with two of Bayern's Euro 2008 stars - Hamit Altintop (62) and Lukas Podolski (86) – adding their names to the scoresheet. Bastian Schweinsteiger failed to emulate his team-mates as his 60th-minute penalty was saved by new Nabburg keeper Florian Frischholz. Despite this, the 14,000 at the ground continued to bellow out "Schweniiie“ and "Poldiiie“ cries throughout the match.
With Klinsmann also making five changes at half-time, the first man in red to hit the target after the interval was Toni Kroos. The 18-year-old grabbed a quick-fire brace (52, 58) to make the score 7-1 and later completed his hat-trick (68) with Bayern's ninth to finish top individual scorer on the day. The tenth goal was supplied by Demichelis, before Podolski's concluding effort four minutes from time.
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