With Cacau undergoing surgery on a groin problem last Monday, Bruno Labbadia was forced to make one change to the side that secured their top flight survival last weekend. The German international was replaced in attack by Pavel Pogrebnyak.

The first half of the south German summit was an eventful one. Both sides were active and looking to get the ball going forward. The fans at the Allianz-Arena, which included some 6,500 VfB supporters, were treated to 45 very interesting minutes. All began with Zdravko Kuzmanovic, with a shot from distance which Jörg Butt turned away for a corner. VfB were present, alert, aggressive, committed, aggressive and rewarded for their determination with the lead. Khalid Boulahrouz sent a pass through to Martin Harnik, who pulled back a cross from the by-line which Shinji Okazaki met perfectly to make it 1-0 for VfB (24’). It was a deserved lead for Labbadia’s men and could have been extended by Christian Träsch, who brought a stunning save from Butt with a drive from 17 meters out.

Harnik was the next to go close, as he narrowly failed to connect with an Arthur Boka delivery. Soon after, Träsch tried his luck with a lobbed effort but slightly over-hit his shot. In the 37th minute, Bayern’s flying Dutchman, Arjen Robben , who cut inside and foiled Okazaki as well as Boka with a pass slipped through to Mario Gomez. The former VfB striker converted coolly to claim his 28th goal of the campaign and make it 1-1 going into the break.

VfB make final push

The tempo remained high after the break, but with both defences looking solid and very concentrated, there were subsequently few chances on goal at either end. The first shot on goal in the second period was in the 67th minute – with Serdar Tasci blasting high over the Munich net. In the 71st minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger showed just how it’s done, powering in to meet a Toni Kroos header to make it 2-1 for FCB. Shortly after, Bayern could have increased  their advantage yet further, with a Mario Gomez effort striking the underside of the crossbar and down onto the goal-line.

In the closing minutes of the match, VfB put together a final push in the search for an equaliser, but other than a Kuzmanovic shot which whizzed over the bar, there was little danger in front of the FCB goal and the hosts hung on to secure the points with a 2-1 win.