Bayern comfortably recorded a second victory of the mid-season training period on Monday night with an emphatic 8-0 victory over Kuwait Sporting Club, the reigning domestic champions and winners of the AFC Cup, the Asian equivalent of the Europa League. A boisterous and enthusiastic crowd in Kuwait City saw the treble winners move into overdrive in the second half as Claudio Pizarro, Julian Green, Mario Götze (2), Thomas Müller (2) and Thiago (2) scored the goals.
With Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer and Franck Ribery absent at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala in Zurich and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben and Daniel van Buyten not yet match fit, Pep Guardiola started with an unfamiliar line-up captained for the first time by Jérôme Boateng.
The noisy 16,000 fans at the all-Kuwait sports stadium saw FCB struggle slightly for rhythm in the opening exchanges, with the home side showing plenty of promise on the break and Tom Starke forced into a couple of decent saves. But the Bavarians wrestled the game under control and made the breakthrough on the half-hour, Pizarro forcing home at the second attempt from a Xherdan Shaqiri cross. Bayern pushed on and created chances, but Mario Mandzukic (35), Shaqiri (36) and Pizarro (38) failed to find the target. There was still work for the defence too as the agile home team sporadically threatened.
Two apiece for Müller, Götze and Thiago
Guardiola brought on all eight of his outfield substitutes for the second half and with the Kuwaitis finally tiring, the club world champions smoothly shifted up through the gears. The 18-year-old Green needed just three minutes on the field before adding his name to the scoresheet with a fine individual effort. Fellow sub Götze stretched to toe-poke home the third on 58 minutes and Müller headed the fourth four minutes later, with both assists provided by young Mitch Weiser.
The home side’s resistance was well and truly broken now and Müller completed his brace on 65 minutes after a flowing move involving Toni Kroos and Götze. There was a brief lull in the scoring until the last ten minutes, with Thiago tapping in from Green’s thrust on 83 minutes, Götze adding the seventh with a skimmer from a Thiago pass straight from the kick-off, and the Spaniard volleying the eighth after latching onto a loose ball 12 yards out in the 90th minute. Starke made another good save right at the end as the home fans and the travelling Bayern support joined forces to celebrate an entertaining and action-packed warm-up encounter.
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