Hoffenheim struggle in Munich

MATCH REPORT

It was 1899 Hoffenheim that had the better of the early exchanges on a bitter evening at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The visitors were unlucky not to make an impact after just five minutes. Following some skilful, high-tempo build up play on the left wing Vukcevic's cross found Demba Ba only for his attempt to fly agonisingly over the bar. From then on, there only looked like one side that would end victorious as Bayern slowly but surely settled into the game and increased the pressure on Hoffenheim.

After extended periods of possession and a number of half-chances, Louis van Gaal's side finally broke the deadlock shortly after the half hour mark. Schweinsteiger's cross was met with a deflected header from Simunic only to find defender Martin Demichelis unmarked at the back post. The Argentina international duly slotted the ball past Hildebrand's outstretched leg to give the hosts the deserved lead.

The pressure only increased in the second half as Ralf Rangnick's side failed to find the intensity of the opening minutes of the first 45 minutes. Bayern dominated possession and created the better of the chances, but struggled to find the second goal to secure the three points. On 57 minutes Gomez should've made it two when he found himself one on one with Hildebrand following a speedy counter attack. But the striker's touch was heavy and allowed the Hoffenheim keeper the chance to smother the ball.

The breakthrough finally came four minutes before the final whistle when Klose fired home from close range to seal the fate of Hoffenheim, and continue the team's poor record in the Bavarian capital. Ahead of the rest of the games on match day 18 Hoffenheim remain in seventh place in the league on 25 points.

POST MATCH QUOTES

Timo Hildebrand
Bearing in mind our current shortcomings, we performed fairly well overall.

Boris Vukcevic
In the first half we were on a par with Bayern and created a few chances for ourselves. After the restart Bayern dominated the game and deserved to win.

Hans-Jörg Butt
It is important that we got off to a good start in the New Year. We only allowed them a few chances and we carved out some good opportunities in the second half.

Andreas Beck
We had some good chances in the opening phases and defended fairly well. But as we lay back that gave Bayern more room, making it enormously difficult to get into the game.

Louis van Gaal
Hofenheim played really well in the first half because we allowed them too much space. When we were in possession we also made too many mistakes, but we improved in the second half. Having taken the lead we had more room to play in and created plenty of chances for ourselves.

Ralf Rangnick
The first half was absolutely fine and we were strong particularly in the first 20 minutes. But we let our standards drop. We knew how strong Bayern are, and we didn't want to play to those strengths. After the first goal it was difficult because we had to impose ourselves more upfront. That could have meant conceding a second goal sooner, or if Demba had made it 1-1 then who knows what would have happened. In the end it was a deserved win for Bayern.

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