Second-half display delights Bayern´s van Gaal

Coach Louis van Gaal was delighted with his Bayern Munich side’s second-half display as the defending champions moved up the Bundesliga table with a morale-boosting 4-2 win over Freiburg.

Friday night’s win at Munich’s Allianz Arena put Bayern seventh in the league, before this weekend’s matches, and narrowed the gap behind leaders Mainz, who face second-placed Dortmund on Sunday.

“I?m happy with the result, but we didn?t play well in the first half,” said van Gaal after his side’s fourth win in ten games.

“We were far better after half-time, but we?ve conceded goals again. This group of players has played football the way Bayern Munich can – and that?s what really matters.”

Both Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger and Croatia’s Danijel Pranjic created all four goals as Bayern put a poor first-half performance behind them with a strong second 45 minutes.

Defender Martin Demichelis scored the only goal of the first half before Mario Gomez on the hour, Anatoliy Timoshchuk and then Toni Kroos completed the rout with Schweinsteiger running Bayern’s midfield.

“Bastian made the difference in the second half: he took over the playmaking duties, he held up the play and distributed possession. He was terrific,” said van Gaal.

Having been left out of the first-team at the start of the season to make way for Germany defender Holger Badstuber, Argentina defender Demichelis said he was happy to score his first goal of the season with a 39th-minute header for Bayern.

“It was important for me to prove I?m still around,” said the 29-year-old.

“Thankfully, I?ve been able to help the team with my first goal.

“A professional career has its ups and downs, and I have to learn from the situation.

“I?m glad to be at Bayern, I?ve been here for eight seasons and I love Bayern.”

Freiburg coach Robin Dutt criticised his side for their defensive mistakes and admited the hosts deserved the win as second-half goals by Stefan Reisinger and an own-goal from Munich’s Edson Braafheid flattered the guests.

“I?m angry about us gifting them the opener with a completely unnecessary misplaced pass in central midfield, which led to the corner and in turn to the goal,” he said.

“Our attacking efforts weren?t bad, but it was never enough to win here.

“In the second half, we ended up lucky that Bayern didn?t make the most of a couple of counter-attacks.

“But at the end of the day, it was a deserved win for Bayern.”