Eurosport - Wed, 30 Sep 22:31:00 2009
Bayern Munich and Juventus played out a 0-0 draw at the Allianz Arena as both sides maintained their unbeaten start in Champions League Group A.
The home side should have been ahead by the break as they stretched the Juventus defence to breaking point in an entertaining first 45 minutes, though the loss of Arjen Robben to injury affected them in the second half.
Juventus' hold on the game improved as the match went on, but Miroslav Klose passed up the best chance of the match for the Bavarians on the hour mark, sidefooting wide from 12 yards.
Bayern remain top of the group on four points, while Juventus are third, with two points from their two games.
Bayern's wing wizards Robben and Frank Ribery have proved the undoing of many a defence so far this season, and they set to work tormenting the Juve back four right from the off.
After just five minutes Bayern had carved their opponents apart, with Robben feeding the onrushing Thomas Muller, who dinked the ball beyond keeper Gianluigi Buffon, only to see it bounce millimetres wide of the far post.
Bayern's old tormentor Diego, the former Werder Bremen ace, then stung the hands of Hans-Jorg Butt with a well struck shot from 20 yards, before Ribery produced a piece of sublime footwork to dance his way through Zdenek Grygera and Giorgio Chiellini, only to chip the ball just over the bar when bearing down on Buffon.
Klose then glanced a header wide, before Juve had Nicola Legrottaglie to thank for a last-ditch interception as Robben and Muller broke at lightning speed.
Mauro Camoranesi provided Butt's first genuine test with a well-struck drive that the keeper parried wide for a corner just after the half hour, while David Trezeguet volleyed wide from Fabio Grosso's cross.
An injury to Robben just before the break deprived Bayern of one of their main sources of creativity in the second half, and despite replacement Ivica Olic's admirable work ethic, their threat as an attacking force was lessened.
On one of the few occasions Bayern did get in behind the Juve back line in the second half, the off-form Klose sidefooted wide, triggering howls of derision and whistles from the home fans.
He trudged off to be replaced by Mario Gomez with a quarter of an hour remaining, and Bayern's record signing was straight into the action, playing a neat exchange with Bastian Schweinsteiger that resulted in the latter having a penalty appeal turned down.
Vincenzo Iaquinta produced a fine piece of control before volleying wide with 10 minutes remaining, though as the game fizzled out, one sensed the Old Lady had got the result they realistically targeted.
Comment 1 - 9 of 9
Blagoja i don't think we watched the same match. And I do not see them leading this group. If they are lucky, maybe they'll be second after Bayern.
At the end Juve will finish first in the group. And after the match Juve-Bayern in Turin I'll expect comments from everyone of you "experts" that are offending the Juve's playing style. And for the record, Juve was dominating the second half!!!!
I do agree with kiefer3214 that the Italians were lacking pace and creativity. How can a top team in Italy play like Juve yesterday? It's a shame to Italian football. But Bayern didn't make out the best of their dominance and that bothers me. Let's see how severe the Roben's injury is and whether Bayern is going to continue like this.
@half a brain , your nick says everything to me,
kiefer3214, check the CL games results of the last 3 years and then open your lousy mouth.
Ima reterd I kant spel "italian"
omg bayern so so much better, the only thing italien teams can do nowdays is fight, they dont have pace and creativity at all, its a disgrace to watch
all eyes on Juve!!!! forza Juve!!!! make that idiot schweinsteiger eat his words!!
all eyes on a draw
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