Carlo Ancelotti said Bayern Munich’s 2-0 victory over Ingolstadt 04, with last-minute goals by Arturo Vidal and Arjen Robben, was the perfect confidence-booster for Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash against Arsenal.
The Gunners are the guests at Munich’s Allianz Arena in what Robben has described as Bayern’s “week of truth” after the Bundesliga leaders have struggled for form with lackluster performances in the past few weeks.
Vidal broke the deadlock by ghosting in behind the Ingolstadt defense to put his side ahead on 90 minutes. Robben netted just 60 seconds later to seal victory in the Bavaria derby.
Photo: AP
“It was an important win for us and gives us a lot of self-confidence for Wednesday,” Bayern coach Ancelotti said. “We had to give everything, we did give everything and we’re happy with the result. We have to show the same character and mentality against Arsenal. That will be the key.”
Their quest for a fifth straight Bundesliga title this season was helped on Saturday as their main rivals — RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund — lost to leave Bayern seven points clear.
They had more than 70 percent possession and deserved the win over second-from-bottom Ingolstadt after Robert Lewandowski hit the crossbar late on and had a first-half effort cleared off the line.
Bayern are not in form, as highlighted by the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 after labored 2-1 wins at SC Freiburg and Werder Bremen last month, but chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said there is reason for optimism.
“There is no need to be pessimistic. We have seen the team can step it up at the right moment,” Rummenigge said.
Bayern captain Philipp Lahm, who announced on Tuesday last week that he would retire at the end of the season, was happy with the win.
“It’s all on the right track. Our body language was better,” Lahm said.
Bayern are on a record 15-match winning streak and know they must take a good result from the first leg in Munich to the return in London on March 7.
“We have to win, ideally keep them to zero, so that we have a bit of a cushion for the second game in London. That would be nice,” Rummenigge said.
Bayern only showed their mettle in the dying stages, when it mattered most, but there was no disguising the lack of tempo, ideas and movement.
“Everyone saw that it was very, very difficult to raise our passing game,” Lahm said. “We knew it would be a tough game, decided by the one-on-ones. Lewy [Lewandowski] could have put us in the lead in the second half, but when you create a goal so late, you have to be happy.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later