One Goal And One Assist Makes Ilicevic The Man Of The Match As Kaiserslautern Shock Bayern Munich.
Newly promoted side Kaiserslautern have astounded critics after collecting three points in their opening match against FC Koln, and have now done the unimaginable by beating Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich by a score of 2-0.
Kaiserslautern manager Marco Kurz fielded a starting lineup that was not what one would expect from a recently promoted side who are taking on the champions. Kurz began with a 4-4-2 formation, instead of trying to flood the midfield and force a nil-nil draw.
Sippel – Dick, Amedick, Rodnei, Jessen – Kirch, Tiffert, Bilek, Ilicevic – Nemec, Lakic
Physical strikers Nemec and Lakic started the game up front for Kaiserslautern, and their presence made all the difference for Die roten Teufel. Last week, it was Srdjan Lakic who banged in a brace against Koln to secure three points for his side. This week, he popped up again with a telling contribution. First, though, his teammate Ivo Ilicevic hit a wondergoal from outside the box and put Kaiserslautern one-nil up after just 25 minutes. One minute later, while Bayern Munich were still feeling the shock of the first goal, Ilicevic put Lakic in the clear after an excellent through-ball and the striker duly obliged and made it two to the good.
Louis van Gaal was a picture of frustration. His side, who came away with a win at the death against Die Wolfe in their opening fixture last week, lacked the cutting edge in front of goal that was necessary this time around. van Gaal set his team up to go out and win, but the day was not to be theirs. While Bayern Munich dominated the match and came away with a total of 72% of possession, they only registered three shots on target and were largely ineffective throughout the match.
Butt – Lahm, van Buyten, Badstuber, Contento – Schweinsteiger, van Bommel – Mueller, Ribery – Klose, Olic
Many Bayern Munich fans will blame the defeat on veteran goalkeeper Butt, who failed to save either one of Kaiserslautern’s two shots on target. Two shots he really should have saved, in all honesty.
Clinical finishing was the order of the day and Kaiserslautern provided it. It will be interesting to see how Bayern Munich deal with the defeat, because it will certainly come as a bitter blow to the Bundesliga champions, who would have expected to record a comfortable win in this match.
