Bayern Munich will clash with Man City in the Audi Cup final.
Bayern Munich and Manchester City have secured their places in the Audi Cup final, after defeating Sao Paulo and AC Milan respectively in matches played last night and this morning.
Bayern Munich narrowly defeated their Brazilian counterparts 2-0, while the Premier League runners-up thrashed AC Milan, a regular fixture in the league, 5-3.
Compared to their defeat in the German Super Cup last weekend, Pep Guardiola made a number of changes to Bayern's starting lineup against Sao Paulo. Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez started, while Manuel Neuer and Ribery also returned from injury. Veteran Claudio Pizarro replaced Mandzukic as the lone striker.
Mandzukic's goal.
Those changes allowed Pep to field Bayern's strongest possible lineup, with Neuer in goal, a back four of Rafinha, Dante, Martinez, and David Alaba, Schweisteiger tasked with ball recovery in midfield, while Robben, Toni Kroos, Lahm, and Ribery focused on attack, supporting Pizarro playing as the furthest forward.
Bayern's superior class forced the Brazilian representatives to defend for almost the entire 90 minutes. In the first half, the Bavarians relentlessly besieged Sao Paulo's goal, but Ribery, Robben, Pizarro, and even Alaba were all unable to overcome the brilliance of veteran goalkeeper Ceni.
It wasn't until the second half that Pep Guardiola's substitutions yielded immediate results for Bayern, with both Mario Mandzukic and young Mitchell Weisser scoring.
Striker Mandzukic opened the scoring in the 55th minute with a close-range finish, before Mitchell Weisser sealed the 2-0 victory late in the game with a quick strike after the ball rebounded off the post.
Sao Paulo were awarded a penalty, but world-renowned free-kick goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni failed to beat his counterpart Neuer from the penalty spot.
With this result, Bayern will face Man City in the final. In their match against AC Milan, the English side secured a 5-3 victory over Milan within the first 45 minutes.
David Silva, Micah Richards, Aleksandar Kolarov and Edin Dzeko (two goals) scored for Man City, while Milan's goals were scored by Stephan El Shaarawy (two goals) and Andrea Petagna.
The joy of the Man City players.
According to (Vietnam+) - DT
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