BAYERN 4-1 AC MILAN
Bayern Munich demolished AC Milan with a fine display of
confident, attacking football on their first appearance at the
Allianz Arena since Louis van Gaal took over.
Nineteen-year-old striker Thomas Muller grabbed a brace as the
record German champions taught the Italians a lesson with a
comfortable 4-1 win.
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Saer Sene were also on target for
Bayern with a free-kick from Andrea Pirlo Milan's only
consolation.
Bayern will now meet Manchester United in the final of the Audi
Cup tomorrow night with Milan contending third place with Boca
Juniors.
Bayern took the game to their Italian opponents from the very
beginning with Muller, the young revelation of their pre-season,
terrorising Milan's experienced defender Alessandro Nesta, a man 14
years his senior.
He broke the deadlock after 12 minutes with a predatory finish
that his legendary namesake Gerd Muller would have been proud of to
conclude a fluid team move.
Hamit Altintop slotted the ball through for Jose Ernesto Sosa,
who dragged the ball back from the goalline for Muller to sidefoot
in from point-blank range.
Mario Gomez had a string of opportunities to add to the early
lead, but he was unable to put the finishing touch to another
impressive team move which involved Philipp Lahm and Muller on the
half-hour mark.
Gomez then nicked a Daniel Pranjic cross just wide of the far
post from close range with Nesta in close attention as Bayern tore
Milan to shreds, albeit without converting their dominance into
goals.
At the other end, Giuseppe Favalli did find the back of the net
a minute before the break but the goal was ruled out for
offside.
The hosts continued to take the game to their guests, who were
clearly suffering after a tiring tour of the USA came to an end
only early yesterday morning.
Half-time substitute Schweinsteiger inspired Gomez to another
chance which he dragged just wide of Marco Storari's goal while on
the stretch while Thiago Silva almost put the ball in his own goal
as he cut out a low cross from Lahm.
There was another flash of danger at the other end with Martin
Demichelis heading over the crossbar as his team mates just looked
on believing the ball had already gone out of play.
Schweinsteiger then grabbed a deserved second goal for Bayern
with a touch of individual skill.
He left Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Oddo and Kakha Kaladze all on
the floor before placing his shot calmly past Storari into the
bottom corner from 15 yards.
A goalkeeping error by Hans-Jorg Butt allowed Milan an
unexpected route back into the game less than two minutes
later.
He flapped at Pirlo's 25-yard free-kick and could only push the
ball into the roof of his own goal.
But a grandstand finish enabled Bayern to move comfortably into
tomorrow's final against Manchester United.
Young substitute Sene, making his first ever appearance in the
first team just 24 hours after scoring the equaliser for Bayern's
reserves in their third division match, opened his account for the
club in style.
His initial shot was saved by Storari, but the ball fell for
Muller, Sene's former team mate in the youth team, who unselfishly
laid the ball back into the 22-year-old's path, giving him an easy
tap-in from close range.
And there was another tap-in for Muller in the last minute from
Alexander Baumjohann's cross to complete a deserved rout of the
Rossoneri.
