FC Bayern Munich-CFR Cluj: The Visitors Bring About Their Own Downfall

Champions League nights in the Allianz Arena rarely fail to provide plenty of excitement. The clash against Cluj in Munich, however, will be remembered for two bizarre incidents: Cluj scored four times and Bayern only once, yet Bayern won 3-2 and now sits atop Group E with nine out of nine points from the opening three fixtures.

The Match

Bayern and Cluj both started slowly, and the visitors earned the first good chance. Despite wasting the chance, Cluj took advantage of lacklustre defending by Bayern at the back post and eventually took the lead through a Cadú header at the next opportunity. Just four minutes later, however, Cadú turned a Toni Kroos shot into his own net.

Four minutes after that blunder, Cristian Panin sent Holger Badstuber's curling corner into the Cluj net. Lacina Traore had a great chance to equalize when he found himself one-on-one with Hans-Jorg Butt. Traore beat Butt but managed only to hit the post.

No goals were scored in the second half until a clearance in the 77th minute ricocheted off Mario Gomez into the back of the net. Cluj scored a second goal through Culio in the 86th minute, but Bayern easily held on for the win.

Observations and Conclusions

Bastian Schweinsteiger played well on the night, but he lost the ball at one point in the first half to Traore and was ultimately saved by Anatoliy Tymoschuk. Schweinsteiger was one of the main reasons Bayern had close to 70 percent of the possession, and he was always ready to move forward to support the attack.

He has to be thankful to Andreas Ottl, as Ottl completed about 90 percent of his passes. Ottl's passes weren't necessarily excellent through balls; his calm attitude and his distribution, however, made sure that Bayern retained possession. The diagonal balls to Philipp Lahm and Hamit Altintop highlighted his quality.

With very little doubt, the best player on the night was Bayern's Toni Kroos. The Cluj players seemed almost terrified whenever he got the ball, and thus, the German was on the end of quite a few tackles. His set pieces were always very good, and he was unlucky that at least one of his shots did not go in. The trouble he caused inside the box led to the first own goal by Cluj. He rarely wasted opportunities to move forward and shoot or to provide good balls for the attackers.

The back line had an average night. Butt's distribution was less than excellent at times, but his saves were undoubtedly very good ones. Holger Badstuber had a few forgettable moments, but he had a solid night overall. Both of his free kicks were on target, and one had to be parried over the bar by CFR keeper Edward Stancioiu.

Anatoliy Tymoschuk was at fault for the first goal, but he helped out his teammates quite a few times after they had lost possession. He made errors, but didn't exactly look out of place. Daniel Pranjic did a good job moving forward, even though he was exposed slightly at the back from time to time.

Hamit Altintop should have managed to send countless crosses into the box, but they were either intercepted or failed to find anyone. He got better as the game moved ahead, deciding to pass the ball into the box rather than cross. Unfortunately, nobody got on the end of the occasional good ball that he sent in.

Thomas Mueller was energetic, but did not always find his teammates with his passes.

Mario Gomez was crowded out by the Cluj defence, but he tried hard all night long to find a chance to score. He squandered some good opportunities by either taking too long to convert them or deciding to pass to a teammate when the better option would have been to shoot. However, despite knowing very little about the goal he scored, he perhaps deserved it.

This is what Gomez had to say after the game:

“All the goals were very curious. But that’s football. You have no luck for weeks, and then the goals score themselves."

Bayern next plays Hamburg on Friday in the "Nord-Sud" derby of the Bundesliga.