Bayern new league leaders

Ottmar Hitzfeld had set out a clear objective ahead of the Bundesliga showdown with Kaiserslautern on Saturday afternoon. "As the coach of Bayern Munich, I expect us to be top of the table," he announced.
His mission was accomplished in no uncertain terms with another dynamic, attacking performance from his team. Germany's most successful club side achieved a 4-1 victory over Kaiserslautern and advanced to the head of the table for the first time this season.

Hitzfeld took the unusual step of selecting a team almost identical to the one that beat Spartak Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. The only change was the inclusion of Roque Santa Cruz in place of Claudio Pizarro.

It took Santa Cruz only 16 minutes to justify his selection. Salihamidzic eased past Jeff Strasser on the right flank and laid the ball back to Santa Cruz at the edge of the area. In a flurry of movement, the Paraguayan pushed the ball past two defenders with his right and fired the ball past Georg Koch with his left to score his third Bundesliga goal of the season (16 minutes).

Kaiserslautern had barely recovered from this early setback when goalkeeper Koch was beaten again. A throw-in from the left fell to the feet of a completely unmarked Giovane Elber, whose cross to the near post was volleyed home by Salihamidzic (23 minutes).

The score was extended to 3-0 only six minutes later when Giovane Elber initiated an exciting counter-attack. Poaching the ball from Ratinho in his own half, Elber released Salihamidzic, who charged down the right before releasing to Sergio in the area. Before he could shoot, Sergio was brought down by his marker, Dimitrios Grammozis, and referee Jẳrgen Jansen pointed to the penalty spot. Salihamidzic took the penalty (29 minutes), sliding the ball low to Koch's right, to score his fourth õ?" and Bayern's 24th õ?" league goal of the season.

Kaiserslautern coach Andy Brehme made two changes during the interval, bringing on Jảrgen Pettersson and Thomasz Klos, but this had little effect on the balance of play. Bayern remained the dominant team and proceeded to create a string of opportunities, most notably a looping Elber header over the outstretched arms of Koch which fell onto the crossbar.

Bayern slowed the pace a little in the second 45 minutes, enabling their opponents to adopt a more offensive stance, but Oliver Kahn was never under threat in goal. His first serious test of the match was a low-driven Grammozis free-kick from 30 metres.

With eight minutes left to run, Sammy Kuffour was adjudged to have brought down Miroslav Klose and a Harry Koch penalty reduced the difference to two goals (82 minutes). This was the first league goal Bayern have conceded at home this season. In the dying seconds, Claudio Pizarro, who had replaced Elber, made it 4-1 after converting a long through-pass from Salihamidzic (91 minutes).

Bayern Munich 4-1 Kaiserslautern

Goals: 1-0 Santa Cruz (16th minute), 2-0 Salihamidzic (23), 3-0 Salihamidzic pen. (29), 3-1 Harry Koch pen. (82), 4-1 Pizarro (91)

Bayern Munich
Kahn (capt.) õ?" Sagnol, Kuffour, Robert Kovac, Lizarazu (replaced by Tarnat in 77th minute) õ?" Fink (Sforza 77), Hargreaves, Salihamidzic, Sergio õ?" Santa Cruz, Elber (Pizarro 68)
Bayern subs. not used: Wessels, Thiam, Zickler

Kaiserlautern
Georg Koch õ?" Harry Koch, Hengen, Knavs (Klos 46) õ?" Strasser, Ramzy, Lincoln (Pettersson 46), Ratinho, Grammozis õ?" Klose, Lokvenc

Referee: Jẳrgen Jansen (Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia)

Bookings: Grammozis (kicked Sergio in off-ball incident 41)

Attendance: 63,000 (capacity)