Bayern Munich bounced back from the loss in their last Champions League fixture by brushing aside a fairly average Juventus side.
Many questioned before kick-off which Bayern side would turn up. Would it be the side that lost 2-0 to Arsenal or the side that demolished Hamburg 9-2 at the weekend?
It was the latter.
Bayern could not have asked for a better start when just 25 seconds in Bastian Schweinsteiger played the ball to young Austrian left back David Alaba, whose shot took a wicked deflection to send Gianluigi Buffon the wrong way and send the ball swerving into the bottom right corner of the goal.
The pattern of the game was set with Bayern dominating the majority of the first half. The game was very stop-start with many fouls being given away, with referee Mark Clattenburg keeping his cards in his pocket. Bayern continued to press with Buffon being tested on many occasions in the latter stages of the first half.
Juventus, however, did finish the first half with a flourish. After Mario Mandzukic picked up a yellow card for a challenge on Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus launched an attack. This resulted in a corner which was headed just over the bar by Leonardo Bonucci.
The second half started with Bayern continuing their very strong pressurising of the Juventus midfield. This pressure resulted in a very early chance for Mandzukic, which was saved by Buffon after great defensive work by Luiz Gustavo.
Mandzukic continued to walk the tightrope after his earlier yellow card, continuing to make challenges and drawing fouls in the process; Chiellini picking up a yellow card on this occasion following an aerial tussle with the Bayern forward. With the game continuing to be very stop-start, Bayern had many set piece opportunities, many of which were wasted. Alaba came closest with a free kick from 28 yards which was well saved by Buffon.
Then came the goal which effectively killed off this game and resigned Juventus to a first leg defeat.
Luiz Gustavo won the ball with a brilliantly timed challenge just in front of his own back four. From here, he carried the ball forward, spreading it out wide to Philipp Lahm who fed Arjen Robben. Some very strong wing work from Robben resulted in a square pass to Gustavo, whose shot was spilled by Buffon to a marginally offside Mandzukic who duly squared to Thomas Muller for a tap in.
2-0 to Bayern Munich.
With the Juventus front two being isolated by the solid Munich defence, Antonio Conte reshuffled his front line in the pursuit of an away goal which could spice up this tie. With 25 minutes to go Sebastian Giovinco and Mirko Vucinic replaced Alessandro Matri and Fabio Quagliarella. These substitutions seemed to spark Juventus to life. They were no longer restricted to the long ball as Pirlo started to find his passing range.
Juventus enjoyed a fair share of possession in a good 5 minute spell, with Vidal testing Neuer on two separate occasions. Neuer dealt with both shots well after being a spectator for the majority of the second half.
Then came a moment of controversy.
Stephan Lichtsteiner ran into the box and knocked the ball past Dante, who appeared to upend the Juventus right back. No penalty. Lichtsteiner received a yellow card for his somewhat theatrical fall. Juventus may feel slightly aggrieved.
From there on in, Bayern closed the game out strongly holding the ball up and retaining possession well. In their pursuit of an away goal, Juventus started to be very wasteful with the small share of possession they had.
In a nice gesture, Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes substituted Mandzukic and Ribery, undoubtedly two of the best players on the pitch, to receive their standing ovation from the Allianz Arena.
With this result, Juventus suffered their first defeat in this year’s Champions League and ended their 5 game winning streak in the competition. Juventus undoubtedly have a mountain to climb in Turin, especially without Lichtsteiner and Arturo Vidal who both picked up bookings which rule them out of the second leg.
However, as the result with Arsenal shows, Bayern can be beaten so don’t rule Juventus out just yet. On another day, Bayern could have won this game by a far wider margin but they will be happy with their nights work and will go into the second leg as favourites to progress.
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