Sunday, April 5, 2009

Wölfe crush Bayern

After an extraordinary run as Bayern München coach, Felix Magath was let go in what many consider far too quick of a decision. What Bayern's loss is Wolfsburg's gain as now after taking control of Wölfe since the summer of 2007 the path has been straight up. Saturday afternoon the message of Wolfsburg's growth was loud and clear as Jürgen Klinsmann's Bayern München was devoured 5-1 at Volkswagen Arena. The victory sends Wolfsburg to the top of the Bundesliga with eight matches remaining. With a cursory glance at the schedule it is quite possible that Wolfsburg could extend their present eight match winning streak and run the table without a blemish in the Rückrunde.

With a capacity crowd at cozy Volkswagen Arena, the match started as a touch and go affair. While there were a number of possible chances in the opening phase few would have guessed of the eventual out pouring. As is so often the case Bosnia and Herzegovina international was at the root of Wolfsburgs mark, this time as his corner was nodded in by an unmarked Christian Gentner two minutes before the break. However barely a whisper later, Bastian Schweinsteiger free-kick was headed goal bound by Luca Toni before Wolfsburg 'keeper Diego Benaglio parried the the ball out. However the ball came back the Italian international and he made no mistake leveling the match. With the match level it was time for the other half of Wolfsburg Bosnian connection as Edin Džeko continued his stunning play as he sent Marcel Schäfer cross into the net three minutes past the hour. In retrospect the goal gutted Jürgen Klinsmann's side as three minutes later, just as he had lead his homeland to great victories in World Cup qualifying this week, he severed hope from Bayern's day and made it 3-1. The celebration continued as with sixteen minutes remaining Christian Gentner's through ball found Grafite, who then sent the ball into the net past Michael Rensing. The celebration was cued up three minutes later as the Brazilian striker put together a glorious one man show before stylishly back heeling the ball into the net for a 5-1 victory.

Wolfsburg return to play next Saturday as they travel to face relegation battlers Borussia Mönchengladbach.