FC Bayern München (4-0) 1.FC Nürnberg | Recap

One way to avoid the dreaded Bayern complacency epidemic, as well as injury risks within the starting lineup is to only play one or two people from it. With the Bundesliga clinched and the semifinals of both the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Champions League on the immediate horizon, Jupp Heynckes decided that there was no better time to trot out his young as well as his sparsely-played squad members than for a home match against 1.FC Nürnberg that was sandwiched between two massive contests in the midweek leading up to and following the game.

With nearly all of the regulars on the bench or in the stands, it seemed as if there just might be reason to be concerned about Nürnberg, a team that fought Bayern to a draw in the first match this season between the Bavarian rivals.

However, Jerome Boateng had a cunning plan.

He would merely disguise himself as a defender, but end up in the attacking portion of the midfield for the first half and play the biggest role in FCB taking a three-goal lead into the locker room.

In the fifth minute, Ribery's work in the attack awarded Bayern a corner. A fortuitous bounce or two later, the ball was suspended at thigh-level 12-yards out, and an unmarked Boateng gyrated his hips and left the ground so as he was parallel to the Allianz Arena grass.

Like the expertly-sharpened hair trimmers used by Sarah Brandner to cut our vice captain's hair into weird and different shapes every six weeks, Boa's legs generated enough torque to send to the ball blazing past 1.FCN's Schäfer for the one-nil.

Not much occurred in the next twelve minutes, but seeing Emre Can and Tom Starke on the field against Not Paulaner Traumelf was enough to keep everybody entertained.

The Südkurve sang the "Deutscher Fußballmeister, F-C-B!" chant to the tune of Twisted Sister's 80's hit "We're Not Gonna Take It" for over ten minutes until the ball was at Boateng's feet in an attacking position yet again.

Like a warmed knife through Manuel Neuer's ten-gallon, village-sized Nutella hot tub, the German defender slipped a perfectly-timed though ball to the feet of his countryman Mario Gomez.

Gomez, still in shock that he received decent service in the area from one of his teammates, put his shot past a diving Schäfer to double the Bayern advantage twenty-three minutes into the game.

Nine minutes later after even more Bayern attacking and possession, another defender made a play to get his name on the scoresheet. Rafinha darted down the right flank and received the ball at a tight angle towards goal, but his mind was made up about shooting. The Brazilian aimed for, and beat Schäfer past the near post to put his team up three goals to none going to halftime.

The biggest threat on the Bayern goal came just after the pause, as a penalty was awarded to 1.FCN for a Rafinha foul on Mike Frantz in the area.

Backup goalkeeper Tom Starke guessed correctly on Timmy Simons' shot, though, and managed to parry the ball out of danger with his forehead.

Ten minutes later, a corner was awarded to Bayern and yet again, a favorable deflection on a setpiece fell right to the feet of a Bayern player in the penalty box.

Shaqiri received his bit of good fortune with composure and made a quick shift to the left. His move opened up space for him and he shot it back to the near post with his left foot. Past Schäfer's left side, the ball snuck inside the upright to make the match stand at (4-0), where it would stay.

However the event that most people not named Jerome Boateng will remember from today occurred in the 70^th minute, when a little bit of FC Bayern history was made.

At just 17 years old, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg became the youngest Bayern Munich player to take the field for the Reds in the club's illustrious history.

The Dane put in a solid twenty minutes of work that helped to see out the victory in front of a raucous sellout crowd and the Allianz Arena.

Bayern finished with 60% possession and over twice as many shots as Nürnberg, as well as three times as many corner kicks.