Kinhöfer Pulls an Øvrebø as Bayern Dusel Returns

By: Jan | May 12th, 2009

Bayern eventually overcome Klinsmann’s bad karma with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Leverkusen and with referee Thorsten Kinhöfer still confused about what constitutes a penalty nowadays following the Champions League semis.

Had Klinsmann been still in charge, Bayern would have played poorly and van Buyten and Demichelis would have conceded a penalty each. Bayern would have gone into the break two goals down. Fans would have started booing and shouting “Klinsmann out!” and in the second half either Ribery, van Bommel or another player of your choice would have been sent off. Leverkusen would have achieved a historic victory over Bayern – their first in 20 years in Munich – and some other team would have won the Bundesliga for a change.

But Klinsmann is no longer in charge. Bayern played poorly and should have conceded two penalties but they get away with it. The score is tied at 0-0 at half-time and fans remain patient. Bayern’s players get their act together and completely overrun Leverkusen in the second half. Leverkusen will now have to wait at least 21 years for a victory in Munich – or focus on more worthwhile and achievable goals in their lives. I presume that everything is back to normal in Bavaria and the Bundesliga now.

Bayern’s recovery might still come a little too late, as Wolfsburg were quick to recover from their Stuttgart debacle as well. Their ruthless counter attacks ended Dortmund’s seven match winning streak (3-0).

Hertha overcame Cologne as expected and, as was at least not too surprising, the game was much closer than it should or could have been (2-1). Hertha have now achieved Favre’s official goal of clinching a spot in next season’s Europa League and it’ll be interesting what excuses he has left to downplay Hertha’s ambitions.

The pressure is now on Stuttgart to get a result against Schalke, while Hamburg can take advantage of Dortmund’s defeat to get back into Europe and rescue what is left of their season after the Werder debacle.