FC Bayern begun 2015 on a winning note as Germany’s most successful club defeated a Qatar Stars League representative XI by 4 goals to 1 in the first friendly of their mid-season training camp in Doha.

A 6,838 crowd at Lekhwiya SC Stadium saw Mitchell Weiser net an early brace, and although Hamdi Harbaoui pulled one back for the Qatar Stars on 26 minutes, Franck Ribéry increased Munich’s total to three on the stroke of half-time. Sub Claudio Pizarro rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.

Match report
Just two minutes into the game and Bayern beat the offside trap when Muller found himself unmarked, Qatar Stars keeper Claude Amin did his best to slow down the attack but the Germany forward offloaded to Sebastien Rode who calmly slotted home the first of the night.



Then on the 6^th minute Lekhwiya defender Chico hit a long ball over the top, it was misread by the Bayern defense, and Hamdi Harbaoui found himself one-on-one with Reina, but the keeper was out of his area quickly to deny the Tunisian.

Mitchell Weiser made it two for the Bavarians on the quarter hour mark when he received a clever pass from Ribery, Weiser cut in from the right, drove into the box and then placed a beautiful curling effort into the bottom left corner.

Bayern were clearly having the lion’s share of the possession and looked likely to score from each attack.

Then finally the Qatar Stars replied with a goal of their own when Pablo Hernandez broke down the right wing, beating the offside trap.  Qatar Sports Club’s Harbaoui made a surging run into the middle of the box received the cross from the Spaniard and slotted home on 26 minutes to make it 2-1.

The Qatar Stars grew in confidence but the well-oiled Bayern passing machine soon managed to get back into its rhythm and dominate the possession once again.



Fathi had a shot on the 35 minutes, the Umm Salal player came close but Reina was well positioned and gathered up the effort with ease.

Just before half time, Sebastian Rhode turned beautifully in the box and got past his marker, then he unselfishly cut the ball back to an unmarked Ribery who hit it first time and nutmegged the keeper as the ball went into the back of the net (43’).

In the second half the Qatar Stars coach Michael Laudrup made a number of substitutions, bringing on Vladimir Weiss, Murad Naji, Alvaro Mejia, Tuncay, Paulinho, Belhadj and Kharaitiyat keeper Khalifa Ndiaye.

In a rare goal scoring opportunity, Waleed Mohiyaddin sent in a great cross from the left and Umm Salal’s Tuncay found himself unmarked but the Turk couldn’t keep his header down (65’).

Bayern were now camped in Qatar’s half and with minutes ticking by, the counter attack was looking like the home side’s only real hope.

A number of Bayern players found themselves with clear goal scoring opportunities in the area but poor finishing continued to plague them in the second half.

In the last ten minutes, the Qatar Stars began to string a few passes together and came close in a few counter attacks but they lacked the killer pass in the final third.

In the 88^th minute Mario Gotze worked the defender with a one – two and then fired in a stinging shot first time but Ndiaye covered the far post well to stop his side conceding a fourth.

However the World Cup winner made up for it just minutes later when he delivered in a fine corner, the ball went to the back post where Claudio Pizarro was unmarked, he controlled it and then struck the ball into the bottom left corner with a cool finish. The goal came in the first minute of extra time to put a nice gloss on a comfortable night for Bayern.



Post-Match press conference
After the match Guardiola said, “This match was a fantastic night, we are here in Doha as part of our winter training programme and so we wanted to play some friendlies. Over all, we controlled the match and did well. They managed to contain us more in the second half.”

Asked whether he would consider coaching in Asia one day he added, “I never thought when I first started out as a player that one day I would end my career in Qatar, so you never know what life can bring.”

Michael Laudrup who was in charge of the Qatar Stars praised his players and said, “This was a good learning experience for these players, a lot of them have never played against such quality players. Obviously there is still a gap between us and the biggest teams in the world but this shouldn’t really surprise anyone. However the Qatar Stars League is definitely going in the right direction.”

Asked about how it was to see his ex-teammate Guardiola, Laudrup said “Yes I love to see Pep; I have to say that he is a great coach with his own unique philosophy and style. It is clearly visible and he has changed Bayern too.”