Bayern Munich hold on to win 1-0 away to Hertha Berlin

Bayern Munich received a first half goal from Arjen Robben to down Hertha Berlin 1-0 at the Olympiastadion.

Just over a minute into the match, Bayern nearly jumped out to the lead. After buildup through the middle Robert Lewandowski sent a ball wide to Thomas Müller. His low cross into the area took a bad bounce right before it was received by a streaking Lewandowski, and he only managed to put his effort over the crossbar.

Bayern grabbed hold of possession and continued to poke and prod the Hertha defense looking for an opening. Runs behind the defense, short passes through the middle, and long crosses for the wings were bending the BSC defense, but they weren't breaking it.

As the old saying goes, "When you need a job done right, you get Arjen Robben to do it for you." At least, I think that's how the old saying goes. In the 27th minute, some beautiful interplay in the middle of the park gave Bayern their lead. Mario Götze's pass was backheeled into the path of Robben by Thomas Müller, and the Dutch maestro curled an effort from the top of the box past former FC Bayern man Thomas Kraft in the Hertha net for the 1-0 advantage. Kraft did get a hand on it, but the ball was just out of his reach to keep out of his net. (WATCH: Robben's goal)

FC Bayern continued their stranglehold of possession for the remainder of the half, but they were unable to find a second goal. Robben, Müller, and Juan Bernat all put their efforts beyond the frame.

Just before the half, however, Hertha BSC received a free kick on top of the area. Unfortunately for Berlin Marcel Ndjeng's chip into the area was easily grabbed by Manuel Neuer. This was the best chance of the half for Hertha, and they squandered it away with a poor free kick.

Nothing sums up the first half better than this particular stat.

Xabi Alonso: Completed 22 more passes (86) in the first half of #bscfcb than Hertha Berlin managed as a whole (64)

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) November 29, 2014

Woof.

Hertha did come out in the second half with much more intensity than they had in the first half. Julian Schieber had the first great opportunity of the period after spinning away from Dante. Unfortunately for Hertha, Schieber's shot was nowhere near the target.

Around the hour mark, Hertha caught Bayern out on the break, but Valentin Stocker's cross/shot was blocked out for a corner kick by a sliding Xabi Alonso. Hajime Hosogai put the resulting corner into the back of the net, but the referee disallowed the goal for an offside. The replay would show that Hosogai was clearly offside.

The hosts had another decent opportunity ten minutes later when Neuer spilled Ronny's free kick, but The World's Best Goalkeeper was able to recover the ball before any damage was done.

With less than ten minutes left, after a brilliant pass from Robben, Lewandowski found himself standing in the penalty area with only Kraft in front of him. Lewandowski decided to get himself completely set, allowing Kraft to come charging out. Unfortunately, Kraft made the save to keep Bayern's lead at only one.

A quick free kick in the 86th minute saw John Anthony Brooks chest the ball down and touch it past Jerome Boateng. Unfortunately for Hertha, Brooks is a centerback and sent his shot to Row ZZ. Bayern were quick to attack down at the other end, and Kraft once again stopped Lewandowski at point blank range.

The referee blew the final whistle to end the contest, and Bayern extended their unbeaten run to start the Bundesliga campaign to 13 games with the victory.