Bayern Edge Out Schalke To Go Second

Schalke 1-2 Bayern Munich

Following a fast-paced and exciting first half that saw an opener from Luca Toni after three minutes, an equalizer from Jefferson Farfan two minutes later and then Franck Ribery restore the visitors' lead after half an hour, Schalke and Bayern slowly played out the second half with neither side seriously threatening their opponents' goal until the final minutes. The score, however, remained the same.

First Half

From the opening whistle, neither team appeared interested in holding back. Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern showed the home side no respect in the early minutes, and took the lead when Toni Kroos sent a quick ball forward to Luca Toni, who deflected the ball through to Mark van Bommel. Van Bommel recovered the ball near the byline and passed back to the open Toni, who slotted past Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The Schalke attack showed no hesitation and pressed for the equalizer, which came just seven minutes into the game. Rafinha dribbled from the right towards the edge of the penalty area, and cut inside before playing Jefferson Farfan through on the right side of the box. The Peruvian hitman recovered the ball and, from a very difficult angle, managed to shoot past Michael Rensing to level the score.

After equalizing, Schalke continued to apply pressure, and kept the visitors in their defending half for several minutes. Long-range efforts from Ivan Rakitic (19), Fabian Ernst (20) and Jermaine Jones (2 came close, but all efforts went wide. For all their possession, Schalke were unable to find another shot inside the penalty area.

And then, all of a sudden, Bayern surged out of their defending half, due mostly to excellent dribbling and passing between Miroslav Klose and Franck Ribery. The Frenchman broke into the left side of the penalty area, and cut right before playing through Ze Roberto, who was on an overlapping run. From the byline, the Brazilian passed back to Ribery, who blasted a shot past Neuer without breaking his stride.

Despite going behind for the second time at home, Schalke once again applied pressure, but this time the Bayern defense was far more resolute. As the half drew nearer, Schalke earned more opportunities, but will be disappointed to have not converted any of them. Following a Farfan free-kick, Kevin Kuranyi's 42nd minute free header was well taken, but went straight to Rensing for the save. A minute later, another free-kick came in from the right, but Marcelo Bordon was adjudged to have been in an offside position as he waited at the back post. Either way, Bordon's volley was well over the goal.

Second Half

In a stark contrast to play in the first half, the opening 25 minutes of the second half were rather uneventful. Skillful play between Ribery and Ze Roberto failed to produce any chances for Bayern before the Brazilian was substituted for Christian Lell in the 60th minute, having most likely pulled a muscle. In fact, Bayern's first effort on goal did not come until the 73rd minute, when Ribery shot low and straight into Neuer's arms.

Schalke's fortunes were no better, and the Gelsenkirchen side had only an off-target effort from Ivan Rakitic in the 48th minute before their second shot, which came in the 86th minute and proved particularly dangerous. A cross came in to new substitute Gerald Asamoah, who deflected the ball down off his face and towards Albert Streit, who did well to control the ball with Martin Demichelis and Lucio challenging. Streit's shot was, however, from a nearly impossible angle and was saved by Rensing.

Although Schalke won 18 corners, Farfan's delivery was sub-par, and failed to produce any opportunities on goal. Aside from the aforementioned shots from Rakitic and Streit, Schalke's only other effort on goal was a free header that Heiko Westermann almost completely missed with half of Rensing's goal open.

Although they only had 34% of possession in the match overall, Bayern won the ball when it counted: over the final 10 minutes of play, Schalke rarely held the ball, and hardly ever for more than a few moments.

Although several free kicks came their way, Bayern did their best to avoid being greedy by over committing to the unnecessary cause of a third goal. However, Jose Ernesto Sosa couldn't help but take a shot after Ribery set him up with a one-on-one situation against Neuer in the closing seconds. The Argentine's shot would have sealed Schalke's fate, but his shot hit the post and rebounded out of danger.

On another day, Sosa's miss would have been critical, but not today. Bayern were too good at closing with a lead, and Schalke simply lacked the sharpness required to seriously threaten Rensing's goal.

Schalke 1-2 Bayern Munich