FC Bayern München were 2-0 winners against FC Schalke 04 in the opening Bundesliga fixture on matchday 2 courtesy of goals from Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich, but it was anything other than a walk in the park. The record champions struggled for long periods in front of 62,271 spectators at the sold-out Veltins-Arena, and could only break the deadlock in the closing stages.
There were a number of new faces on display on Friday evening, although just one for Bayern, with European champion Renato Sanches coming into the side in place of Arturo Vidal. Schalke, on the other hand, had five players making their competitive home debut in the form of Naldo, Abdul Rahman Baba, Benjamin Stambouli, Nabil Bentaleb and Yevhen Konoplyanka. The new look Royal Blues under Markus Weinzierl were providing FCB with numerous problems too, and will have been disappointed to go into the break at 0-0.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar came closest to opening the scoring around the hour mark, but Manuel Neuer managed to tip his 20-yard strike onto the crossbar at full stretch. Carlo Ancelotti’s changes soon began to have an influence on the game though, and Robert Lewandowski finally found a way through for the visitors in the 81st minute, just moments after having missed with an open net. Schalke pushed up in search of what would have been a deserved equaliser, but were caught on the break by Joshua Kimmich, who wrapped up the 2-0 win with a maiden Bundesliga goal, very similar to his very first international goal for Germany in Norway last Sunday.
FC Bayern München were 2-0 winners against FC Schalke 04 in the opening Bundesliga fixture on matchday 2 courtesy of goals from Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich, but it was anything other than a walk in the park. The record champions struggled for long periods in front of 62,271 spectators at the sold-out Veltins-Arena, and could only break the deadlock in the closing stages.
There were a number of new faces on display on Friday evening, although just one for Bayern, with European champion Renato Sanches coming into the side in place of Arturo Vidal. Schalke, on the other hand, had five players making their competitive home debut in the form of Naldo, Abdul Rahman Baba, Benjamin Stambouli, Nabil Bentaleb and Yevhen Konoplyanka. The new look Royal Blues under Markus Weinzierl were providing FCB with numerous problems too, and will have been disappointed to go into the break at 0-0.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar came closest to opening the scoring around the hour mark, but Manuel Neuer managed to tip his 20-yard strike onto the crossbar at full stretch. Carlo Ancelotti’s changes soon began to have an influence on the game though, and Robert Lewandowski finally found a way through for the visitors in the 81st minute, just moments after having missed with an open net. Schalke pushed up in search of what would have been a deserved equaliser, but were caught on the break by Joshua Kimmich, who wrapped up the 2-0 win with a maiden Bundesliga goal, very similar to his very first international goal for Germany in Norway last Sunday.
