World Cup Champion Casillas Shows His Form Against Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich wrapped their pre-season up as they played in the Franz Beckenbauer testimonial match against Real Madrid, to honour the career and the service Beckenbauer has provided to both Bayern Munich and German football in general. The match pit Louis van Gaal against Jose Mourinho once again, a rematch of the Champions League final last season. Jose Mourinho was once again victorious.

Bayern Munich started a decent lineup, omitting only a few of Germany’s World Cup stars.

Butt – Jullich, Van Buyten, Badstuber, Braafheid – Ribery, van Bommel, Pranjic, Sosa  – Mueller, Klose

Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery absolutely burned Real Madrid right-back Sergio Ramos time and again early on, and even force the Spanish World Cup winner into conceding a penalty. Unfortunately for Bayern Munich, Iker Casillas saved Badstuber’s first attempt, and caught his rebound effort as well. With twenty minutes left on the clock, it was Klose who finally poached an opening goal which was disallowed for offiside after an excellent cross from Thomas Mueller.

Down the other end of the pitch, Real Madrid didn’t look themselves after so many changes at the club recently. Pedro Leon hit a few good crosses in early on for Gonzalo Higuain, but the Argentinian was poor from 8 yards out on this occasion. With the game nearing an end, Karim Benzema worked some magic along the left-hand side and poked a cross in for Cristiano Ronaldo, but it was tipped over the bar by Kraft who replaced Butt at half-time. Real Madrid’s starting line-up was star-studded from start to finish:

Casillas – Ramos, Garay, Carvalho, Marcelo – Khedira, Alonso – Ronaldo, Canales, Leon – Higuain

Youngster Sergio Canales impressed with a few cutting passes, and Germany international Khedira had a few bursting runs forward from midfield but he was well marshalled by the enthusiastic and determined Mark van Bommel, whose legs never look like going despite his age.

A nil-nil draw saw the match go to penalties, where Casillas was the hero for Madrid when he saved both Altintop and Braafheid’s penalties. Surprisingly, Badstuber stepped up to be Bayern Munich’s first penalty taker even after missing early on.

The result won’t come as a huge disappointment to Bayern Munich and Louis van Gaal, who know that competitively they would have had the better of Real Madrid today. Jose Mourinho certainly does have a lot of work to do constructing a functioning, world-beating team out of all of those superstars. He will know that anything less than success is not an option at Real Madrid.