Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

On April 3, in the Bundesliga's twenty-ninth round, Bayern visited Schalke 04.

In the twenty-third minute, Su Dong dropped back to receive the ball with his back to goal, only to be fouled from behind by Schalke 04 center-back Bordon. The referee showed Bordon a yellow card and awarded Bayern a direct free kick just outside the penalty area.

Su Dong took it himself and scored in one attempt. With a brilliant knuckleball, he breached Schalke 04's goal and opened the scoring for Bayern. One-nil!

Three minutes later, Bayern won the ball high up the pitch. Thomas Müller received it near the edge of the penalty area and cut inside, then sent a diagonal pass to the left side of the box. Olić made a diagonal run from the left, collected the ball, and passed it back into the middle. Su Dong calmly followed up and drove it home. Two-nil!

With a two-goal lead, Heynckes substituted Su Dong at halftime, saving his energy for Wednesday's Champions League match.

But in the second half, Schalke 04 suddenly launched a fierce offensive, causing Bayern considerable trouble. They even pulled one goal back and at one point made Bayern look thoroughly embarrassed.

Fortunately, Bayern held on desperately and defeated their opponents two-one away from home.

In midweek, Bayern welcomed Manchester United to the Allianz Arena for the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.

A week earlier, Bayern had suffered a two-three comeback defeat at home to Manchester United. Then, last weekend, Manchester United had faced a crucial Premier League clash at home against Chelsea.

The result was that Manchester United, having just battled Bayern in the Champions League, were overturned at home by Chelsea under Ancelotti. Goals from Joe Cole and Drogba gave Manchester United back-to-back defeats at Old Trafford.