UEFA Champions League Match Recap: Napoli 1-1 Bayern Munich

After tonight's matchup at Stadio San Paolo, Bayern Munich maintain their position at the top of Group A, but not by much. An own goal from Holger Badstuber led to a 1-1 draw with table dark horse SSC Napoli, closing the lead to only two points. 

The Bavarians came into this match off of some recent high-scoring affairs, including Saturday's resounding 4-0 defeat over Hertha Berlin. Appropriately enough, the first strike of the match went to their side, out of the gate with a resounding start on a Toni Kroos goal in the second minute.

Kroos, the 21-year-old upstart, made a brilliant touch off of Jerôme Boateng's setup that got past Morgan De Sanctis with ease. In fact, they outplayed their Italian opponents offensively, with five shots on target to none for the Azzurri and holding the majority of possession.

Unfortunately, Napoli's cracking defending and the subsequent Badstuber own goal kept them from taking home the win tonight.  

Key to Napoli's success tonight—particularly in the wake of Kroos' goal and further tenacious offensive surges from the likes of Thomas Müller and Franck Ribéry towards the end—were Walter Mazzari's cracking defensive trio of Christian Maggio, Paolo Cannavaro and Hugo Campagnaro.

Maggio was particularly impressive with his defending and ultimately compelled the own goal from Holger Badstuber. Cannavaro held the Bavarians as a flurry of corners made De Sanctis work, but a second-half handball almost proved to be a fatal mistake as it set up a Mario Gómez penalty shot. Although De Sanctis saved the shot, had Gómez succeeded, victory would have gone to Bayern Munich.

Man of the Match

Toni Kroos' goal was a scorcher, but Napoli's Christian Maggio gets my vote. He played with speed, endurance and forced the equalizer that kept Napoli from taking home a defeat tonight.