Friday's Bundesliga Review: Hamburg Held By Bayern Munich

Louis van Gaal’s side were lucky to leave the Imtech Arena with anything at all after Die Roten were outplayed by their hosts for large parts of the match. Bayern Munich’s inability to sustain periods of possession nearly cost them, but some heroic goalkeeping from Hans-Jorg Butt and a little bit of paint off the woodwork saved Bayern Munich from succumbing to what could have been their fourth defeat of the season.

Armin Veh’s Hamburg side featured four ex-Bayern Munich players in the starting lineup, and they would have been itching to get one over their old side. Marcell Jansen, Ze Roberto, Jose Guerrero, and Piotr Trochowski all took to the field against their former club, but will feel disappointed that their performances didn’t warrant a win. Hamburg’s best chance of the evening came through Burkina Faso winger Jonathan Pitroipa, who was denied by Hans-Jorg Butt after having a one-on-one opportunity against the veteran goalkeeper.

Bayern Munich created little in terms of clear-cut goalscoring chances, and I’m very surprised that Louis van Gaal didn’t get Ivica Olic out onto the pitch a lot earlier than he actually did. The Croatian striker finally took to the field in the 86th minute, and by then had very little time to make any kind of positive impact. Mario Gomez was virtually anonymous against Heiko Westermann and Joris Mathijsen, who had him beaten for pace and aerial ability respectively, and I think the diminutive Croatian could have given Bayern Munich a different option in attack that may have won them this match.

Next weekend, Hamburg travel to Koln, while Bayern Munich host Freiburg.