Bayern Top Nurnberg In Testy Bavarian Derby

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The Bavarian Derby between Bayern Munich and Nurnberg is always an exciting affair, even if it was made exciting by some rather poor play from the German Champions. But give credit where credit is due, Nurnberg put in a good showing and tested well, forcing Neuer to keep Bayern alive.

First Half: Slow start that didn’t go places.

Bayern started off the game very poorly, and Nurnberg was almost able to take advantage of this fact taking advantage of mediocre defending and forcing several big saves from Manuel Neuer. The defense let Neuer down a few times, but Nurnberg were not exactly amateurs in attacking and most of their attacks started when the midfield gave the ball away.

Nurnberg also suffered two injuries early on, one to US international Timothy Chandler who had to be stretchered off and then another to Ginzek in the 22ed minute.

Eventually, Bayern got their act together though and managed to string together a decent attack. Alaba’s cross found Mario Mandzukic who volleyed the ball into the back of Nurnberg’s net in the 18^th minute. Even when Bayern play badly, they still find a way to come out on top.

The rest of the first half was fairly uneventful, even boring. The midfield was sloppy and gave away the ball a fair amount, but they were also able to cut off most of Nurnberg’s attacks. Lahm didn’t exactly have his best game in defensive midfield, but it seemed like Bayern couldn’t string together a really cohesive attack. Mario Gotze was ineffective, as was Thomas Muller. Mario Mandzukic was Bayern’s best attacker, winning aerial duels and harassing the central defense but found Nurnberg to be a tough nut to crack.

Second Half: More off the same, fewer mistakes.

Things didn’t really change much in the second half, but Bayern’s midfield got sorted out a bit better and made fewer mistakes which created more chances. Mandzukic had a big game again, pushing forward and bullying the defense into making mistakes. The Croatians work ethic paid off as a short pass and Lahm finished brining Bayern up 2-0.

From then on out, the goal was to attack and wear down the defenses. Bayern were able to draw a few free kicks that Arjen Robben and David Alaba were almost able to score, but despite being close neither were able to find the back of the net.

Nurnberg were able to orchestrate a few decent attacks, but nothing really came from them. By this time, the defense was more comfortable and anything that was too much for them to handle was calmly handled by Neuer.

The substitutions came late in the game as Javi Martinez came on for Muller, Shaqiri came on for Robben, and Pizarro came on for Mandzukic. With

Goals

1:0 A cross from Alaba and a classy volley from Mandzukic tucks this one away.

2:0 Mandzukic makes  a good run and lays the ball off to Lahm, who cooly slots it past Schafer.

Key Statistics:

-Bayern took 10 shots, 6 of which were on target.

-Bayern managed 54% possession, which is fairly low for them these days.

-33% tackle success rate, which isn’t bad. Dante in particular looked better today.

-23.14% possession in Nurnberg’s final third, 11.19% of which was on the left flank.

Line-ups

FC Bayern 4-1-4-1

Neuer

Rafinha-Boateng-Dante-Alaba

Lahm

Robben (Shaqiri 81’)-Thiago-Gotze-Muller (Martinez 72’)

Mandzukic (Pizarro 86’)

Bench: Starke, Contento, Martinez, Shaqiri, Hojbjerg, Kroos, Pizarro

Yellow Cards: Lahm (43’) Mandzukic (64’, will miss next match.) Muller (65’)

Line-ups

Nurnberg 4-1-4-1

Raphael

Plattenhardt-Pinola-Petrak-Chandler (Angha 10’)

Frantz

Drmic-Feulner-Kiyotake-Hlousek (Gebhart 76’)

Ginczek (Pekhart 22’)

Bench: Rakovsky, Angha, Dabanli, Gebhart, Mak, Campana, Pekhart

Yellow Cards: Hlousek (45’) Pinola (50’)

Game details:

Matchday: 20

Final Score: Nurnberg 0-2 FC Bayern

Location: Easycredit-Stadion,Nurnberg.

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