Early on, the clash between the south German rivals was evenly matched but the hosts soon took the initiative and created a number of openings. Sven Ulreich was called into action to deal with a shot from distance by Danijel Pranjic, which he did excellently, but minutes later the keeper was helpless to prevent Bayern taking the lead. Maza misjudged a long pass by Diego Contento, nodding the ball into the path of Thomas Müller, who, with only Ulle to beat, laid square instead to hand Mario Gomez his 26^th goal of the season and give the home side a 1-0 advantage.

Conceding appeared to shake VfB into action and in the 35^th minute, Hajnal sent Martin Harnik on his way, but under severe pressure from Holger Badstuber, the front man couldn’t hit the target. Seconds later, Hajnal put a cross into the box, where Okazaki could only head against the crossbar. With Ivica Olic unable to find a way past Ulle, the home side went in at the break clinging to their narrow 1-0 lead.

A dip in tempo

As active and determined as Bruno Labbadia’s men were at the end of the first period, the away side couldn’t get much going after the restart. At the other end, Bayern were more adventurous and created a number of chances to extend their advantage. In the 50^th minute, Olic fed substitute David Alaba, who drilled wide from 16 meters out and twelve minutes later, Contento tested Ulreich from distance. There then followed a period during which neither side really looked to press and little happened at either end.