Barcelona left this spring the Champions League after a 0-7 on aggregate with Bayern Munich. The two teams met yesterday after a short holiday in a friendly match. With Pep Guardiola on the Bavarians’ bench playing against the team where was formed as a coach, and Thiago who was forced to dispossess on Messi instead to seek the decisive pass for the Argentine.
Although three months have passed from the “double” in the Champions League, the balance of power was about the same, but to be said that from the Catalan team missed Iniesta, Xavi, Pique, Puyol, Busquets or Neymar, still on vacation. For this reason, Bayern dominated in many instances and at a time showed mercy to the opponent. Lahm opened the scoring with a shot from Ribery’s cross (14), as until the break, Muller, Alaba, Rafinha to miss clear opportunities to increase the gap. Towards the end, Mandzukic made 2-0 after a pass from Contento. Meanwhile, Pep’s players showed that the Spaniard coming heading the group aesthetic adds, that and without him last season broke many records.
Even if he has a machine that goes almost perfectly, Guardiola continues to experiment. Lahm started the match as a midfielder, Thiago at closing, for then to occupy a place of creation. Ribery bands changed the wings very often, and from the first “11″ missed the classic striker, a sign that Guardiola does not give up to old style. On the other hand, the Catalans were content to prepare “youth” against big teams and to wait for the new coach Gerardo Martino, who can fix the tiki-taka Barcelona.
Starting Line-ups:
Bayern Munchen: Neuer – Rafinha, Dante, Boateng, Alaba – Lahm, Thiago, Kross - Robben, Muller, Ribery
Barcelona: Pinto – Montoya, Bartra, Mascherano, Adriano – Song, Dos Santos, Sergi Roberto – Alexis, Messi, Tello