Inevitable Bayern Munich Victory Augurs Well for Carlo Ancelotti

Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti had predicted that Friday's road match against Schalke would be tough. He was right, but as is so often the case, the defending German champions still found a way to win.

Goals from Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich in the final 10 minutes gave Bayern a 2-0 victory in Gelsenkirchen and made it a perfect six points from six in the Bundesliga.

"It was the difficult game that we expected against the tough opponent we expected," Ancelotti said afterwards, as per Yahoo. "Schalke caused us many problems. For 60 minutes, the game was well balanced, and after that we had more chances and also got the goal.

"Schalke were the better team in the first half, and we were better in the second."

Only one of 92 previous league meetings between the two sides had ended in a scoreless draw, but for much of Friday's encounter, it looked like Schalke, rather than Bayern, could get the opening goal.

Bayern had thrashed Werder Bremen 6-0 on the opening weekend, but the second league match since Ancelotti replaced Pep Guardiola as Bayern head coach was significantly less comfortable.

Schalke had slumped to defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt in their first game, and they made six changes for the visit of a team bidding to become German champions for the fifth time in a row.

New signings Yevhen Konoplyanka, a Ukrainian winger brought in from Sevilla, and midfielder Benjamin Stambouli, freshly arrived from French champions Paris Saint-Germain, gave the home side a major boost.

Ex-Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb also impressed on his home debut for Schalke as Bayern's Renato Sanches, the Portuguese sensation who was making his first Bundesliga appearance, was overshadowed.

Konoplyanka's pace caused the Bayern defence serious concern, and visiting goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was also stretched to the limit against his former club—expertly tipping Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's fierce second-half strike on to the crossbar.

Moments like that prompted Ancelotti to send on Arturo Vidal and Douglas Costa, and the changes had the desired effect. With nine minutes left, Lewandowski beautifully controlled a Javi Martinez through ball before sweeping past Schalke net-minder Ralf Fahrmann.

"The first goal was incredibly important," Lewandowski said later.

"We knew we would have to be patient today. We saw in the first half that Schalke were putting in a top performance.

"At half-time, all we talked about was biding our time, and we struck when it counted in the second half."

The Polish striker had scooped over from close range from David Alaba's cross shortly before his opener, but he had more than made up for that miss by the end.

Two minutes into injury time, Lewandowski teed up Kimmich, who had replaced Sanches on 71 minutes, to put the seal on a 2-0 success. It capped a memorable few days for 21-year-old Kimmich, who last week got his first goal for Germany in a World Cup qualifying win over Norway.

Many of the Bayern starting XI had featured at Euro 2016 so it was perhaps no surprise that some players were below par following another round of international matches.

As so often happens when they are not at their best, though, the visitors managed to grind out a win. Their individual quality, not to mention the depth of the squad, made the difference.

The lesson, not lost on new Schalke coach Markus Weinzierl, is that you have to make the most of any openings you get against Bayern.

"We had chances to go in front and maybe should have when Huntelaar hit the bar," Weinzierl said.

"Against Bayern, you've got to be incredibly clinical. Lewandowski's goal decided the game."

Just over two years ago, Bayern drew 1-1 in Gelsenkirchen when Lewandowski got his first Bundesliga goal for the club and Xabi Alonso made his debut.

On Friday, Lewandowski took his tally this season to four goals in two league matches, but Sanches, the latest Bayern midfield debutant, was short of his best.

Michael Sohn/Associated Press/Associated Press

He looked tentative on his return from a thigh injury but is sure to improve. He only turned 19 in August, and it is worth remembering that he was not starting for Portugal at the beginning of Euro 2016 but was in the side that beat France in the final.

It will take him time to adapt to a new country and a new league. But the footballing culture at Bayern will not be too far from what Sanches is used to. His former club Benfica, after all, were also expected to win virtually every Portuguese league match they played.

Schalke have now gone 12 games without a victory against Bayern, and the fact that Ancelotti's men dug out another three points does not bode well for their title rivals.

Bayern have yet to concede a goal on the Italian's watch, having also beaten Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the DFL Supercup. The Bavarian giants were asked questions on Friday, but they passed what is, on paper, one of the tougher road tests they will face this season.

Bigger challenges await Ancelotti, and he will be aware that Guardiola's harshest critics highlight his failure to lead Bayern beyond the Champions League semi-finals.

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Two seasons ago, Ancelotti helped Real Madrid become European champions for a 10th time, and his bid to do something similar with Bayern gets underway at home to Russian side Rostov on Tuesday.

That match is the first of five that Bayern will play before the end of the month in all competitions—a run that ends with a trip to last year's Champions League runners-up Atletico Madrid.

The two European games will tell a lot about how the new era under Ancelotti is shaping up. But Friday night's game against Schalke showed that—at least in Germany—Bayern will keep doing what they do best. That's winning—whatever way it takes.