Bayern won their first fixture of 2015 last week when they beat Stuttgart 0-2. The win did not demonstrate the fluency of Bayern's play though. Robert Lewandowski had another outing he would rather forget. The lscoring responsibilities fell elsewhere as a result. The deadlock was broken by yet another wonder strike from Arjen Robben. The second came courtesy of a brilliant free kick from David Alaba. The ball did not swerve or change direction too many times as it hit the back of Stuttgart's net. Bayern seemed disinterested to do more than just pass the ball among themselves after the second goal. They were happy to run down the clock and let Stuttgart chase shadows. Stuttgart did not play too poorly though and certainly had a few chances in the first half they should have taken advantage of.
Meanwhile, Hamburger SV had a good time against Hannover too. They did not even have to rely on their strikers (including comeback king Ivica Olic) to get the goals. An own goal from Hannover and a strike by Marcell Jansen saw Hamburg pick up their sixth win of the season and climb to twelfth spot in the table. They will be confident of earning a draw against Bayern because this is exactly what they managed when they played the Bavarians in the first half of the Bundesliga season. Bayern's lackluster play saw them fire blanks in that match. The two also met in the DFB Pokal; however, Bayern ran out 1-3 winners in that match.
Pep Guardiola will be happy to welcome back Franck Ribery this week. The Frenchman's absence has hurt Bayern; the team from Munich have relied too much on Arjen Robben's flank in his absence. Jerome Boateng is suspended; this means Mehdi Benatia will play in defense. Guardiola has to keep an eye out for the midweek clash in Shaktar; that perhaps matters more to him than this clash against HSV. Lewis Holtby, Valon Behrami, Cleber, Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Dennis Diekmeier are all out for Hamburg. For Bayern, Thiago Alcantara, Philipp Lahm and Javi Martinez are out as well as the suspended Boateng.
Can HSV get another point from Bayern? Interested in learning how you can watch the 2014-15 Bundesliga? Check out our Bundesliga Multi-Platform Broadcast Guide.
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