New Delhi: Bayern Munich's U-23 side swept aside Kolkata giants East Bengal, thanks to a superb first half display. On a positive note, East Bengal fought hard and played much better in the second half, and scored thanks to Sunil Chhetri.
Sunil Chettri, Subrata Paul and Suley Musah returned to the East Bengal side as the Kolkata side faced a strong Bayern U-23 side on Monday, and were played off the park in a poor first half display.
Yilmaz, who scored the only goal in the first friendly two days ago, opened the scoring in as early as the 4th minute, and went on to complete his hattrick in the 41st minute, with his second goal coming in the 26th minute. The impressive Thomas Mueller also scored in the 28th minute, to make the scoreline an embarrassing 4-0 at half time.
However, all of Subhash Bhowmick's experimentation with tactics and formations ended then and there, and he reverted to the tried and tested 4-4-2 in the second period, which saw a much improved performance from the red-and-gold. Sunil Chhetri even scored on his return in the 52nd minute, but Marco Stier restored Bayern's four-goal lead in the 68th minute.
Like in Barasat, Yilmaz once again scored an early goal and gave Bayern the lead by finishing off a through pass from Bopp. East Bengal tried to come back into the game but were not able to keep possession for long periods as Bayern controlled the game with their high tempo passing and movement.
However East Bengal did manage to create a chance when Saumik Dey’s cross from the left somehow reached Sanju Pradhan but the midfielder’s shot was well saved by Riedmueller.
On the other end Subrata Paul made a couple of saves to keep the score at 0-1 but couldn’t do anything to stop Yilmaz from doubling Bayern’s lead in the 26th minute. The striker coolly finished a move orchestrated by Mueller.
Two minutes later Mueller scored Bayern’s third goal when he ran at the EB back four from the right wing and had the composure to find the back of the net.
The German side was looking unstoppable at that moment and the difference in class was evident even though it was only an U-23 side.
East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick tried to weather the storm by bringing on Mehtab Hossain and pushing Nirmal Chettri back in defence. But Bayern would score another goal in the first half as Yilmaz completed his hat trick. This time it was more of a solo effort as the striker came deep to pick up the ball in midfield ran at the EB defence with ease and slotted the ball past India’s number one goalkeeper, Subroto Pal.
Despite it being a friendly match the small crowd that had gathered at the ground expressed their discontent but at the same time applauded the impressive display by the young Germans. At halftime it was 0-4 and surely it couldn’t have gotten any worse for EB in the second half.
However, the decision to revert back to the usual 4-4-2 formation helped EB in the second half as they were able to compete with the German team. Also, the fact that Bayern took of four of their key players including Mueller and Yilmaz helped EB to make it a more even contest.
East Bengal finally got a goal back when Sanju Pradhan’s pin point cross was headed in by Sunil Chettri. With most of the second half still to play EB had time to get a goal or two.
But then, Bayern started to show the other side of their game. They started to take the pace off the game and kept the ball for long periods to limit EB’s chances of staging a comeback.
Their fifth goal was more of a gift as substitute Fuerstner’s cross was not dealt with by Mehraj. The hardworking Stier then made the most of the mistake by scoring past Subrata Paul.
After that, the game was more of a midfield battle with EB showing more steel and determination. Sunil came closest to score EB’s second as his header from substitute Alvito’s cross was straight at Riedmueller.
Bayern too couldn’t create any clear cut chances, as EB finished the game stronger.
The scoreline might reflect the difference in the standards of the two teams, but East Bengal will take a lot of heart from their second half display against an organized and technically superior Bayern side.
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