Week six of the Bundesliga campaign saw Bayern travel north-west to take on 1. FC Köln, last year’s champions of the second division. The team known as Die Geißböcke or “Billygoats” had been among Bayern’s rivals in the early 1980s, and while the intensity may have waned over the years with the decline of the Rhineland outfit there was still something of a classic “old school” feel about this meeting at a packed RheinEnergieStadion.

Bayern’s starting lineup saw the welcome return of Dutch winger Arjen Robben, while Brazilian Rafinha and Juan Bernat replaced Danté and Sebastian Rode from the team that had beaten Paderborn 4-0 in midweek as the coach switched back to the three-man defensive line.

Bayern started aggressively, and from the start took the game to a Köln defence that had only conceded one goal in their previous five league outings. It was a case of when rather than if for the first real opportunity to come, and just short of the twenty minute mark Mario Götze notched up his fourth goal of the season with a coolly-executed right-footed finish. Köln’s Daniel Halfar was robbed by Rafinha to set up Robben, who flicked the ball delightfully into the box to Thomas Müller, whose unselfish square ball left Götze with plenty of time to pick his spot with ‘keeper Timo Horn completely stranded.

The goal saw the visitors up the ante, but once again they let themselves down badly in the final third. There were half decent chances for Müller, Robben and David Alaba to put the game out of sight before half-time, but as the two teams went into the break Peter Stöger’s side were still very much in the contest. It could have been even better for Köln were it not for Manuel Neuer, who made a superb save to deny Adam Matuschyk before pulling off an even better one to keep out Anthony Ujah on the rebound.

The second half saw more of the same, as the home side sought to stem wave after wave of Bayern attacks. For all of the chances the visitors doubled their lead due to a defensive blunder after sixty-six minutes, with the unfortunate Halfar poking the ball into his own net under pressure from Alaba. The Köln team protested the decision claiming a push by the Austrian, but with replays showing Halfar stumbling under his own weight the referee’s decision was the correct one.

Köln’s Daniel Halfar is flat out after putting through his own net, and David Alaba celebrates Bayern’s second goal

Now safe with their two goal lead, Guardiola’s side easily saw the rest of the game out, securing yet another three points and extending their lead at the top of the Bundesliga table. Bayern had been far from their clinical best and clearly had plenty left in the tank, but against opposition that had created few chances there was little need to press any harder, particularly with a potentially testing trip to Moscow in midweek.

By the end of the weekend’s fixtures Die Roten were out in front with fourteen points from their six games played, two ahead of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

1. Bundesliga, Week 6
RheinEnergieStadion, Köln, 27.09.2014

1. FC Köln 0:2 (0:1) FC Bayern
– / Götze 19., Halfar og 66.

Köln: Horn – Brecko (c), Maroh, Wimmer, Hector – Lehmann – Matuschyk, Gerhardt (59. Risse) – Olkowski, Halfar (76. Vogt) – Ujah (88. Finne)

FC Bayern: Neuer – Rafinha, Boateng (55. Dante), Alaba – Lahm (c), Bernat – Alonso – Robben (76. Shaqiri), Götze – Müller (55. Benatia) – Lewandowski

Yellow Cards: – / –