Bayer Leverkusen 2 – 4 Bayern Munich
06/06/20
Leverkusen manager Peter Bosz warned you have to be brave to play Bayern and that is certainly the case at the moment especially with a striker in the Bavarian’s ranks like record chasing Robert Lewandowski.
-Match report: No fortune for Dusseldorf who are hammered 5-0 by Bayern
Lewandowski must score eleven goals before the end of the league campaign if he is to beat Gerd Muller’s fifty year record of forty goals in a single Bundesliga season.
Lewan got his thirtieth goal of the campaign along with scores from Coman, Goretzka and Gnabry which helped Bayern reverse their fortunes against a Leverkusen side who have become a bit of a bogey team for the Bavarians in recent years, Bayern having lost their last two encounters against the Rhineland side.
Bayern in a rush in the first half
Kai Havertz sat forlorn in the stands but he might have cracked a smile under his mask as Bayer Leverkusen took an early lead against Bayern Munich.
Being almost instantly pinned back by the Bavarian giants, who have scored thirteen times since the restart, Leverkusen took a not so surprising lead bearing in mind the Werkself won the last encounter between the sides 2-1.
Striker Lucas Alario was initially judged to have strayed offside after being put through by a neat lob from Julian Baumgartlinger. Jerome Boateng furiously applauded the linesman for putting up a late flag but the veteran defender’s mistake of not stepping out quick enough was picked up by the video assistant referee and the goal was given.
What happens when you antagonise a seemingly satisfied bear in its work over the last four games? Leverkusen found out. Bayern were relentless in their pursuit of an equaliser and got it through Kingsley Coman on twenty-five minutes. Lewandowski hounded Aleksander Dragovic off the ball and slid in Coman who fled from the Leverkusen ranks with his pace and bent a low shot past Lukas Hradecky.
The game, or more so Bayern were frantic, the Bavarians having been playing a brand of football at the rate of a Formula One race car recently. They took the lead through a superb counter attack from their own box. Lewandowski sprayed it wide to Thomas Muller who played an electric interchange between three team mates and laid it across to Leon Goretzka who finished from eighteen yards.
Serge Gnabry got the third for Bayern when Lukas Hradecky came out too late to try intercept Joshua Kimmich’s long ball allowing Gnabry to lob him.
Lewandowski on the hunt for a fifty year scoring record
Having had the stuffing taken out of them in the opening quarters, and with Bayern unable to keep up their frantic first half pace, Bayer Leverkusen settled the ship a bit after the restart. It was still the Bavarian’s getting the chances though and on sixty-five minutes Robert Lewandowski got his thirtieth goal of the Bundesliga campaign matching his previous bests in seasons 2015/16 and 2016/17 with four games to spare.
Lewandowski, chasing Gerd Muller’s record of forty league goals in a season, headed in Muller’s cross after a mistake from Edmond Tapsoba whose pass out from the back was intercepted.
Lewandowski met Muller’s cross perfectly on the six yard line. The Pole now needs ten goals from the remaining four Bundesliga games to match Muller’s fifty year record.
Leverkusen did get one back in the closing stages. It was nice work done by Paulinho on the edge of the Bayern box. Leverkusen’s number seven passed it out wide to fellow substitute Mitchell Weiser who finished high into the net.
Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky, Bender, Dragovic, Bailey, Amiri, Tapsoba, Alario, Baumgartlinger, Diaby, Aranguiz, Bellarabi
Subs: Ozcan, Tah, Paulinho, Wirtz, Demirbay, Wendell, Weiser, Palacios, Volland
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Pavard, Lewandowski, Boateng, Goretzka, Davies, Gnabry, Muller, Alaba, Coman, Kimmich
Subs: Ulreich, Odriozola, Thiago, Martinez, Perisic, Hernandez, Singh, Zirkzee
Goals: Alario 8′, Coman 26′, Goretzka 41′, Gnabry 44′, Lewandowski 65′, Weiser 89′
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 