http://www.fcbayern.t-home.de/en/news/matchreport/2011/30332.php?fcb_sid=de8fc0e3c2ee2e990bfe6e719a8c7f08Final against BarçaAUDI Cup: FCB edge out Milan on penalties26.07.2011
It is the AUDI Cup 2011 final everyone at Bayern wanted to see: the men from Munich held their nerve against AC Milan on Tuesday evening, booking a place in Wednesday’s final with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out victory over the Serie A champions after a 1-1 draw in normal time. Germany’s biggest club now meet Barcelona, who also needed penalties to beat Porto Alegre giants SC Internacional in the first semi-final.
A 66,000 sell-out crowd at the Allianz Arena saw a one-sided contest between the home heroes and the visitors from northern Italy. Jupp Heynckes’ men controlled the play throughout, but had to chase the game at first after Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s fourth-minute opener for AC. Toni Kroos netted the overdue equaliser before the break, but Munich were unable to turn their dominance into further goals in normal time. The game went straight to penalties, where Bayern converted all five of their spot-kicks, but Alberto Paloschi skied Milan’s fourth.
“Overall, I’m very pleased with my team’s performance,” Bayern boss Jupp Heynckes commented afterwards, “we weren’t very good in the first ten minutes, but after that my team showed lots of patience, kept possession well, and created plenty of chances, which we unfortunately didn’t make the most of. You have to remember we’re still in pre-season and we’ve trained very hard in recent weeks, although obviously there are areas we definitely still have to work on.“
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Heynckes’ starting line-up for the second-to-last warm-up match of the summer could well form the bulk of the team set to contest the DFB Cup first round tie away to Braunschweig next Monday. Philipp Lahm, Daniel van Buyten, Holger Badstuber and Rafinha formed the rearguard, with keeper Manuel Neuer behind them. Anatoliy Tymoshchuk partnered Bastian Schweinsteiger in defensive midfield, with Toni Kroos assuming the playmaking duties. Thomas Müller deputised for the injured Franck Ribéry on the left, with Arjen Robben on the right and Mario Gomez up front.
The men from Milan, who only started pre-season training two weeks ago, sent out a side featuring former FCB captain Mark van Bommel, Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Antonio Cassano and Ibrahimovic. Later in the game, coach Massimiliano Allegri brought on further big names including Pato, Robinho and another ex-FCB man, Massimo Oddo.
Once referee Peter Sippel whistled play underway, Bayern took control and forced the visitors onto the back foot. However, it is a situation with which the Italians are notoriously comfortable, and Ibrahimovic ruthlessly converted his side’s first chance on the break to make it 1-0 after four minutes. Neuer had to be on his guard to keep out Cassano on 12 minutes, but Gomez and Schweinsteiger had already warmed keeper Christian Abbiati’s gloves, before Rafinha came close with an angled drive across the face on goal midway through the first half.
Gomez fired over the bar and Abbiati got down well to Schweinsteiger’s next shot, but FCB finally drew level on 36 minutes when Kroos netted with a left-foot drive from the edge of the box. FCB came within inches of the lead before the interval, but Abbiati pushed Rafinha’s 41st-minute shot onto the bar, and then saved at point-blank range from Müller seconds from the break.
The pattern of the match continued after the restart, but Abbiati repeatedly thwarted the home side with good saves from Kroos, Robben and Lahm. There was a nasty moment for FCB on 63 minutes when Robben had to leave the field with injury; a few minutes earlier, the Dutch ace had been felled in the box by Taye Taiwo, only for referee Sippel to wave play on.
Abbiati remained the only man standing between Bayern and a victory in normal time, the keeper excelling with saves from Gomez and sub David Alaba, before Gomez and Luiz Gustavo, on for Tymoshchuk for the last 20 minutes, both shaved the goal frame from outside the box.
For all Abbiati’s heroics during the match, he was unable to help his side in the shoot-out as FCB converted all five of their penalties, but Paloschi blasted Milan’s fourth into the stands to hand Munich a date with Barca.
