Mark van Bommel successfully continued his comeback from injury on Tuesday night, and although Bayern lost a specially arranged friendly away to third division Jahn Regensburg 1-0, both the club captain and striker Luca Toni gained useful match practice as coach Louis van Gaal contemplates his options for the club’s forthcoming competitive fixtures.
“It was a good test for Mark and Luca, and we’re delighted both made it through the match without any physical problems,“ commented Director of Sport Christian Nerlinger after the game, settled by Anton Shynder’s 47th minute strike. “It’s never good to lose, but the result was secondary in this case,“ Nerlinger continued.
Shynder strikes after half-time
A 9,000 crowd at the Jahnstadion saw a lively encounter with chances for both sides. José Sosa was unlucky not to convert Bayern’s best opening on 26 minutes when Tobias Schlauderer cleared the Argentine’s 20-yard drive off the line. Schütz came close to opening the scoring with a free-kick on the stroke of half-time, but at the other end, the crossbar was all that came between Jürgen Schmid and the opening goal a few minutes earlier.
The second period opened with a torrential downpour, and the opening goal for Jahn, as substitute Shynder volleyed the third division outfit into the lead. Toni appeared poised to equalise on 52 minutes, but the World Cup winner, who made a comeback from a long injury lay-off some four weeks ago in FCB II’s league fixture against Regensburg, placed his angled drive just wide. Overall, the Italian won plaudits for another display bristling with determination and willing.
Ninety minutes for Luca
Van Bommel’s first game back from a nine-week absence ended with his substitution on the hour, but Toni made it through the full 90 minutes. “We’ll have to see if there’s a reaction tomorrow,“ commented assistant coach Andries Jonker, not ruling out a Bundesliga comeback for the Italian hitman away to Freiburg this Saturday.
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