FC Bayern Munich: A Tale of Two "Tonis," Bojan Krkic, and Leverkusen

Bayern sit pretty atop the Bundesliga. Bayern drew this week against the pretty boys of German football, Leverkusen, but still managed to gain a point on Schalke and thus stay two points ahead of the "Royal Blues."

Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern Munich

Bayern earned a penalty after Franck Ribery was fouled inside the box by Gonzalo Castro in the second half. Arjen Robben dispatched it beautifully. Leverkusen equalized through an Arturo Vidal goal following a free kick from Toni Kroos. The ball initially deflected off the cross bar after Kroos hit it. Kroos could have sealed the game, but he shot wide of the target with the goal gaping late on.

Hanover 4-2 Schalke

Hanover went into a 2-0 lead through a Heiko Westermann own goal and a Didier Ya Konan strike. Schalke equalized in the second half through Edu and an Ivan Rakitic penalty. Hanover stole the show late on through goals from Hanno Balitsch and Ya Konan.

Mirko Slomka, the current Hanover coach, was sacked by Schalke in 2008. He finally got some revenge on his former team, even though he was sitting in the stands. The referee had banished him to the stands for complaining towards the end.

Toni Kroos and Luca Toni

Bayern once again confirmed the return of prodigy Toni Kroos to the club from Leverkusen. Kroos had a talk with Louis Van Gaal about his chances of regular football. The German has already seen a jersey, which was promised to him by Uli Hoeness, being handed down to Arjen Robben. He ironically exchanged shirts with Robben after Saturday's match.

Luca Toni might be returning to Bayern rather than securing a permanent move to Roma if Franz Beckenbauer (and recent media reports) are to be believed. Bayern's honourary President, however, refused to comment on Miro Klose.

This is what he had to say about Luca Toni (and Edin Dzeko):

"Athough I like [Wolfsburg's Edin] Dzeko, he is not covered in our plans. When Toni returns from loan, he will return to the first team, then we will have [enough] offensive players."

Franck Ribery...What's New?

Barcelona might be prepared to make a "player plus cash" deal with Bayern for Ribery. The player involved is Bojan Krkic. Mark Van Bommel does not, however, believe that Ribery will leave. Ribery wanted to go to Real Madrid. He wanted to play for a Champions League team. His thoughts might have changed after recent occurings in Europe.

This is what Van Bommel had to say to German newspaper Sport Bild :

"The chance that Ribery will stay at Bayern is looking quite good. I feel like Franck is seriously considering staying here for at least one more season."

Martin's Appeal

Martin Demichelis has made an appeal to all the Bayern fans to stick together with the team in order to make the dreams of a first-ever treble at the club come true.

This is what he had to say:

“We need the fans, now more than ever. When the French come here next week, they need to realize right from the start that it won’t be easy coming away with anything. We want trophies for our fans, but we’ll have to work together.”

April 15, 2010

Exactly ten years ago, on april 15, 2000, Miroslav Klose made his debut in the Bundesliga. The official Bayern website (fcbayern.de ) caught up with the Polish-born forward for an interview. He has scored 119 goals in 284 appearances in the Bundesliga so far. 

I will end with one answer that particularly stood out:

Question: How many more goals do you hope to score in the Bundesliga ?

Miro Klose : As many as I can! I set myself a target every season, and I review how I’ve done at the end. I’ve almost always hit my targets before. I hope I can add a goal or two this term, but our success as a team is the priority, and I’m just as pleased if someone else scores the vital goals.”