2007/08 German Bundesliga: New boys send Bayern to top of table

August 11, 2007Munich, Germany

The 69,000 capacity crowd at the Allianz Arena of football (soccer) fans watched Bayern pummel the Rostock goal to go top of the table.

The match was academic after Klose's 66th minute goal when Rostock keeper Stefan Wächter spilled a Philipp Lahm shot and when he also took his career 1.Bundesliga total to 99 goals with a header in the 85th minute.

The victory gave Bayern an early advantage over Stuttgart, Schalke and Werder Bremen, who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively last season.

Quotations
Ottmar Hitzfeld: “We’ve delivered the goods today. After Monday’s game in Burghausen, we knew the dangers posed by so-called underdogs, and Rostock have won three times in Munich in the past. We were very focused from the start, but there were four or five breaks where we saw that Hansa can play football. We gave them too much space, and I wasn’t pleased by that. The second half wasn’t easy either, because we didn’t get the second goal until late on. I’m delighted the risk with Toni worked out. He was a constant threat, and his presence also made Klose more effective. It’s good when strikers get off the mark in the first match, it takes the pressure off.“

Miroslav Klose: “It was pretty good stuff for the first match, but no more than that. My partnership with Luca Toni’s already working very well. I hope we can keep it up, but we’ve got to do more with our chances, and work harder as a unit when we lose possession.“

Luca Toni: “I haven’t been able to train with the team a great deal, but I really feel at home here. I believe things are going to go well. Obviously, it’s fantastic playing alongside Miroslav Klose, you’ve got to be delighted at having a partner as good as him.“

Frank Pagelsdorf (Hansa Rostock): “Our school report for today would have noted that we were present. Bayern thoroughly deserved the margin of victory. We came here with big plans, but we couldn’t put them into action. We let them play far too much football, especially down the flanks in the second half.“