"Never a dull moment" is a term that can rarely be (truthfully) applied to a soccer match. Yesterday's must-win contest between Bayern Munich and Hannover 1896 was a clear exception to the rule.
A team with a long-standing history of success, Bayern Munich suddenly found themselves struggling in the unfamiliar territory of the middle of the points table following a series of mediocre results, having won only two of their past six Bundesliga matches.
Adding insult to injury, they were displaced from the German Cup competition by Bayer Leverkusen (currently 8th on the Bundesliga table) at their most recent start.
Ominously, Hannover 1896 defeated Bayer Leverkusen last week. This success gave them some hope, but the Hannover team were also hungry for a win for a different reason. Their losing streak of six games as the away team desperately needed to be broken.
It took just 15 minutes for Jiji Stajner to boost the 96er's confidence with a snap across the goal face sneaking past Michael Rensing to land in the bottom right corner of the net. This took Stajner's record to six goals from 17 matches for 2008/09.
But it was all for nothing, as Daniel van Buyten put through an equalizer just five minutes later. And then the slaughter began!
Before half-time, Bayern Munich had hammered in another two goals, one from Miroslav Klose in the 25th minute and a classy left-footed tip by Hamit Altintop as he took the ball on the rebound from Klose's noggin.
The second half only brought more punishment to the visitors, as Lucas Podolski converted a corner kick with his head, followed not long after by Martin Demichelis who did pretty much the same thing.
The final score was 5-1, and the result was enough to propel Bayern Munich from fifth place to second on the points table, just behind Hertha Berlin who now lead by four points.
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