Wolfsburg's Naldo (left) vies for the ball with Bayern's Robert Lewandowski during their German Cup second round match in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Tuesday. Bayern won 3-1. (Photo: AP)
Berlin: Bayern Munich eased into the third round of the German Cup on Tuesday with a 3-1 win at holders VfL Wolfsburg as Germany forward Thomas Mueller scored twice. It was 5-1 when the teams last met four weeks ago after Robert Lewandowski scored all five goals in just nine second half minutes of the Bundesliga rout, but Mueller was Wolfsburg’s primary tormentor on this occasion.
Bayern gave last season’s German league runners-up a first-half masterclass in attacking football in the second-round clash as Brazil winger Douglas Costa opened the scoring with a thunderbolt from outside the area on 15 minutes. Then Mueller took full advantage of two superb crosses from left-back David Alaba on 20 and 34 minutes to make it 3-0 at the break.
“That was a superior display from us in the first-half,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm. The game’s tempo dropped in the second half, but Wolfsburg had the last word when midfielder Maximilian Arnold found Andre Schuerrle in space.
The Germany winger fired his shot past Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on 90 minutes, but it was no more than a consolation goal. Bayern are peerless in Germany: seven points clear in the Bundesliga in their attempt to win a fourth straight title and they are the team to beat in the cup.
“You can’t afford to play like that and if Bayern had scored a couple more goals we would have had no cause for complaint.” Earlier, two Bundesliga teams suffered embarrassing defeats as Eintracht Frankfurt were humbled 1-0 by Erzgebirge Aue and ten-man Mainz crashed out as 1860 Munich scored late goals to claim a 2-1 win.
( Source : AFP )
Next Story
