| 01.10.2009 |
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| Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg both met their most serious competition in their respective Champions League groups on Wednesday night and although neither came away from matches against Juventus and Manchester United with victories, there were reasons for further optimism. Wolfsburg may have surprised themselves into defeat after taking the lead against United at Old Trafford through Edin Dzeko's header on 56 minutes. The Bundesliga side had given a good account of themselves despite heavy pressure from the home side and when Dzeko silenced the Theater of Dreams, a team with more European experience may have weathered the subsequent storm. But United are past masters of coming from behind, and have a European pedigree far beyond what the Wolves can call on. Saying that, United were fortunate with their equalizer, with Ryan Giggs' free-kick getting a wicked deflection on its way in, just three minutes after the Wolves had taken the lead. Nothing was fortunate about Michael Carrick's winner, however, and Wolfsburg were eventually exposed as the Champions League novices they are. Despite this, for long periods of the game, the Germans fought on an even keel with the reigning Premiership champions, suggesting that the return leg in Wolfsburg on Dec. 8 could be a very different proposition. The Wolves also showed enough to suggest that should Man United go through as group winners, the German side have the goods to qualify in second. After Grafite's hat-trick shot down CSKA Moscow two weeks ago, Wolfsburg have now added an impressive – however losing – performance against last year's beaten finalists. For a team enjoying the rarity of European football while holding its first title as German champions, things could look a lot worse for Wolfsburg's chances of progressing. Bayern, it seems, can't get a break anywhere. Despite leading a group which includes the current French champions and the Old Lady of Italian football, Louis van Gaal's team are searching around for both praise and goals. Coach van Gaal said he was happy with the fact that his team had created so many chances against Juventus and that when Munich start scoring, they'll be unstoppable. On the one hand, he can rightly feel satisfied. Italian defenses are notoriously stingy and as Bayern opened Juve up seemingly at will on Wednesday, it showed a real potency from the German team. On the other hand of course, Bayern were lucky not to have their profligacy punished at the other end. Also, how long can a team go on generating dozens of chances and looking like an attacking force before its lack of actual goals starts to derail its league and cup campaigns? Not long in such lofty company, is the answer. However, right now Bayern are top of Group A after two games with a win and a draw to their name and given that only Juventus have a similar Champions League pedigree as the Germans, Munich are in a good position right now to look ahead to qualification. All of which means that Louis van Gaal may have some breathing space in Europe to sort out his scoring difficulties, something he'll need to have fixed by the time Bayern meet stronger opponents in the latter stages. |
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