FC Bayern Munich: Hanover Brushed Aside; Cluj Awaiting In The Champions League

33 miners were rescued in Chile, one of them was called Mario Gomez. He is not related to Bayern's Gomez; however, somehow, he spurred Mario on on Saturday. Mario Gomez credited the Chileans for his sudden and rather unexpected rise from the dead.

Bayern 3-0 Hanover

Bayern did not play well; out of the bench players, only Anatolity Tymoschuk and Mario Gomez put in great displays. Due to the long injury list, Tymoschuk partnered Holger Badstuber in defence. Philipp Lahm captained the side from the right flank of defence while Edson Braafheid covered the left flank. Andreas Ottl partnered Daniel Pranjic in defensive midfield. Toni Kroos played as a right winger while Hamit Altintop played the same role on the left. Thomas Muller played in the hole behind the striker, Mario Gomez.

Bayern opened the scoring when Gomez headed in Altintop's cross. Hanover wasted two great chances after the break. Gomez scored the second when he controlled a ball from Toni Kroos and shot at goal. He took his shirt off in celebration but perhaps had no idea that there was one more goal awaiting him. He turned in a Thomas Mueller pass for the third but was unable to take his shirt off as a second booking would see him leave the pitch.

However, a person does not just come out of the blue and score three goals. Certain factors went in Gomez's favour on the day. Primarily, the two central defenders marking Mario Gomez were not seasoned starters. One of them was an 18 year old who rarely starts games. Thus Gomez had enough time and space to control the ball in the lead up to his goals. Secondly, Gomez controlled the ball with his hand prior to scoring his second and got away with it surprisingly. The goals will nonetheless give him confidence to move forward.

Also Van Gaal tinkered with Bayern's system slightly as Mario Gomez had the ball to work with and the midfielders and defenders all sent balls to him or crossed to him. Ivica Olic and Miro Klose rarely gets the kind of service that Gomez got on Saturday. However, this is not to say that Gomez had a lot of service; this is to say that the quality of the balls were better. Strikers need to have chances to finish and that's why Gomez, like any good striker, managed to find the back of the net three times.

Tymoschuk was preferred by Louis Van Gaal to Martin Demichelis and this could signal the end of the Argentine's career at Bayern. Tymoschuk put in a very accomplished display and Van Gaal should try and start him for more games to see whether he is better than Daniel Van Buyten. Toni Kroos looked brilliant at times. Bastian Schweinsteiger bossed the midfield as soon as he came on for Pranjic on Saturday and will definitely start against Cluj.

Bayern vs Cluj

Cluj comes to the Allianz Arena to face one of the most famous names in the history of European football. Cluj is eleventh in the Romanian league and lost 5-3 in their previous match against FC Vaslui. Cluj is no push-over and they beat FC Basel on the opening day of the Champions League. Cluj lost narrowly to Roma in match day 2. Cluj currently has a list of players out through injury but their list is definitely not as long as Bayern's.

Ivica Olic and Daniel Van Buyten might make it to the clash against Cluj but will start on the bench.  Mark Van Bommel, David Alaba, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Diego Contento, Breno Borges and Miroslav Klose remain sidelined. Klose and Ribery might make it to the bench for Matchday 10 in the Bundesliga.

Bayern will most probably line-up with Hans Joerg- Butt in goal, Badstuber, Tymoschuk, Lahm and Braafheid in defence, Altintop, Kroos, Ottl, Schweinsteiger and Mueller in midfield and Mario Gomez up front. Gomez seems very confident ahead of the clash against Cluj.

Bayern will go a long way in securing qualification for the next round should they beat Cluj. Three points against Cluj will see Bayern on nine points and top of Group E. Ideally, four points from their next three games should see Bayern qualify for the last 16 in Europe's elite competition.

Karl Heinz Rummenigge will unfortunately not be able to welcome his old Inter team-mate to the Allianz Arena as his friend was sacked from his position of head coach of Cluj recently. Andrea Mandorlini has been replaced by Sorin Cartu.

Prediction: Despite their current form, Bayern should beat Cluj but not without some trouble.

Final Score: Bayern 2-0 Cluj.