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Bayern Munich drew the curtain on their pre season campaign by losing to Napoli by 2 goals to nothing. The German champions had only 2 wins in their preseason, a 9-1 win against 6th tier German side Erlangen-Bruck and a 3-2 win against English Champions Chelsea. They lost on penalties to Arsenal, lost to the two Milan teams (4-0 against Milan and 2-0 against Inter) in the International Champions Cup before losing 3-0 to Liverpool. Napoli, on the other hand, went into the games having won 3 of their previous 5 games: 17-0 against Anaunia, 7-0 against Trento and 4-1 against Carpi. They did draw 1-1 against Chievo and lose 2-1 against Atletico Madrid, those two being the only quality opposition they came up against.
Bayern Munich fielded a relatively young side with Arturo Vidal the only mature player to start the game. Carlo Ancelloti arranged his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation with a Rudy-Vidal double pivot and Kinsley Coman, Renato Sanches and Timothy Tillman behind lone striker Manuel Wintzheimer. Napoli went into a 4-3-3 formation with Jose Callejon Dries Mertens and Insigne as the attackers.
The games were evenly matched with Bayern Munich having 47% of the possession. The two teams each had 6 shots on target. Bayern had the ascendancy in the early stages making 6 attempts in the first 14 minutes. In a turn of events defender, Kalidou Koulibaly scored in the 14th minute turning in the ball from a set piece. Napoli grew into the game, but Bayern still looked like scoring with Kingsley Coman, Renato Sanches, and Arturo Vidal all being wasteful. The first half ended 1-0 to Napoli.
Half time saw the introduction of 3 fresh Napoli players with Insigne and left-back Ghoulam being the notable big names taken off the pitch. Substitute Emanuele Giaccherini scored off a Jose Callejon assist in the 55th minute to extend Napoli’s lead to 2-0. After Arturo Vidal blasted the ball over the bar, Dries Mertens missed the opportunity to extend Napoli’s lead at the other end in the 58th minute. Napoli made 4 further substitutions in the 61st minute with Jorginho coming in for Diawara and Allan replacing Jose Callejon. Franck Ribery came on for Bayern in the 64th minute. New boy Corentin Tolisso came on for Arturo Vidal and striker Wintzheimer was replaced by Mario Crnicki. Arkadiusz Milik was able to make an appearance coming on the in the 78th minute but couldn’t add his name to the scoresheet as the game finished 2-0 in favor of the Italian team.
Napoli Starting XI
Sepe, Maggio, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Ghoulam, Zielinski, Diawara, Callejon, Hamsik, Insigne, Mertens.
Napoli Subs
Rafael, M. Rog, E. Giacherini, Mario Rui, E. Hysaj, Jorginho, V. Chiriches, Allan, L. Pavoletti, A. Milik
Bayern Munich Starting XI
Fruchtl, Kimmich, Sule, Friedl, Mai, Vidal, Rudy, Sanches, Tillman, Coman, Wintzheimer.
Bayern Munich Subs
F. Ribery, M. Crnicki, C. Tolisso, M. Awoudja
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