ALLIANZ ARENA

by James Ledwaba, University of the Witwatersrand

It was almost a typical winter’s day in München. For some, like us, it was a special day. It was match day. Bayern Munich was taking centre stage in its first home match of the year against Werder Bremen.

For us in particular, the occasion was particularly special. It was our first ever match at the famous Allianz Arena!

We arrived on the afternoon of 21 January, an hour before kickoff. The trip alone was an experience. We boarded a train to the stadium. On the train, we saw some Bayern Munich fans wearing Bayern shirts and scarfs. At the moment, the severity of what we were about to do had not sunk in. It was not up until we had reached our stop on the train, Frottmanning, and saw the stadium. In the stadium did we start to realise that we were about to fulfil one of our lifelong dreams.

We walked towards the stadium, eagerly. We were surrounded by fans from all kinds of places in and outside of Munich. The fans of Bayern were confident of a victory whilst the fans of the lowly placed Werder Bremen were quietly confident of snatching a positive result from what the pundits assumed would be the jaws of defeat.

We arrived at our seats, situated close to the away section of the stadium. It truly was then when we realised the significance of the occasion. We had made it to the Allianz Arena! This stadium was one which we generally only saw on our tv screens back home but on that day we had lived the experience.

Kickoff came at 15:30. The lineups were read out on the loudspeaker.

For Bayern, it was a strong lineup: Sven Ulreich started in goal; Joshua Kimmich, Jérôme Boateng, Niklas Süle, Juan Bernat mace up the back 4; Javi Martínez, Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller, my favourite Bayern player James Rodriguez, and Franck Ribery played in midfield & Robert Lewandowski played the main striker role.

The Bremen manager had decided to put out a strong lineup: Jiri Pavlenka started in goal; Robert Bauer, Milos Veljkovic, Niklas Moisander, Ludwig Augustinsson made up the defence; Maximilian Eggestein, Phillip Bargfrede, Zlatko Junuzovic, Thomas Delaney, & Jerome Gondorf in the middle with Max Kruse striking alone up front.

We saw the teams come out. The fans roared with anticipation.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... kickoff!

Bayern started the game. They attacked the side of the stadium with the away fans first.

The home team were the first to take the lead. The fans of Bayern were stunned! However, they were confident that the away team would not cause an upset and that confidence was rewarded minutes before halftime when Thomas Müller scored a sublime goal to being the game to 1-1.

The equaliser failed to diminish Werder's attacking adventure as the away team continued to push for a goal that would see them regain the lead, but Bayern gradually began to raise the tempo in the second half. The Bavarians went ahead after 63 minutes when Robert Lewandowski punished some shoddy Werder marking. The Poland striker climbed above the Werder defender Delaney from my favourite Bayern player James Rodriguez's corner.

Werder were in danger of caving in at that point as Lewandowski was denied a second by Pavlenka, the Bremen ‘keeper.

The match continued with both sides creating chances before a hesitant Sven Ulreich,Bayern’s goalkeeper, conceded a 74th-minute corner needlessly. With Bayern defenders standing like statues, Kruse's kick cleared everyone before striking Sule and crossing the line for Bremen’s second goal. The away fans went berserk - but Bayern were back in front two minutes later as Müller crossed and Lewandowski headed home his 17th goal of the season past Pavlenka, who should maybe have done better.

Werder almost equalised when Ulreich made a save from Bremen’s Junuzovic as the visitors refused to give up, but the result was put beyond doubt as Müller raced onto the magician James Rodriguez's pass six minutes from time which secured Bayern's sixth straight Bundesliga win and reaching his own personal landmark into the bargain.

The referee ended the match following some 4 minutes of added time as Bayern Munich defeated Bremen by 4 goals to 2.

It was an epic encounter which I will forever cherish within my memories for years to come.

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