Bayern Munich 2 – 1 Borussia M’gladbach
13/06/20
It was supposed to be a special day for Bayern manager Hans Flick who was chasing down a number of managerial records including matching Jupp Heynckes club record of ten league wins in a row achieved in the 2017/18 season. Bayern did it the hard way against a lively Muchengladbach side.
Joshua Zirkzee intercepted keeper Yann Sommer’s back pass to put Bayern one-up. A Benjamin Pavard own goal leveled the game and Leon Goretzka got the winner with an eighty-fifth minute tap in.
Flick is achieving great things with Bayern having won 23 of 26 of his opening matches as Bayern boss, two wins better than Pep Guardiola, but the Bayern manager was facing a Borussia Munchegladbach side who are no push overs. The Borusses have beaten Bayern in three of the last five meetings between the clubs and inflicted the Bavarian’s last Bundesliga defeat, all the way back in the pre-covid world of December 2019.
It took Bayern a good ten minutes to find their shape missing key personal Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski, both senior men out with suspension. In their place came exciting academy products Mikael Cuisance and Joshua Zirkzee.
Bayern were unable to win the league today after Borussia Dortmund beat Fortuna Dusseldorf in the ninetieth minute with Fortuna having hit the post twice in the closing stages of an absorbing game, and it seemed to be that giants could be killed today.
Gladbach had the ball in the net on fifteen minutes. Midfielder Jonas Hoffmann beat Manuel Neuer one-on-one but VAR reviewed the decision and ruled that Hoffmann had gone too early through the heart of Bayern’s defence.
Bayern almost had the lead on twenty-one minutes, but for a fantastic save by Gladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer. Perisic played a dummy to Zirkzee, Zirkzee’s pass rebounded off Matthias Ginter and fell into the path of the on-rushing Lucas Hernandez who fired low, but Sommer guessed right and managed to block the shot from six yards.
Minutes later Sommer would go from hero to villain, but first Breel Embolo had a chance to put Gladbach ahead. An early sub for Marcus Thuram who went off with what looked like a sprained ankle, Embolo’s header at the far post was spilled by Neuer straight back to Embolo who skewered the rebound wide.
Sommer undone his early heroics when he miss-timed his back pass which fell into the path of Zirkzee. The young Bayern striker did well to divert the pass first time into an empty net from 18 yards.
Gladbach joined Bayern on the scoresheet on thirty-six minutes. Herrmann whipped an early ball into the box that had to be intercepted by the back tracking Pavard otherwise it would have been a tap-in for Jonas Hofmann. Pavard stole Hofmann’s glory and diverted the ball into his own net.
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The second-half began with a host of chances for Gladbach. The closest the Rhineland side came to going ahead was a powerful first time shot by Herrmann after a nice lay-off by Embolo.
Sluggish Bayern didn’t get into the game until sixty minutes. Having called on the big guns Coman and Davies the Bavarians began to exert their strength. The closest they came was a Serge Gnabry volley that was hit into the turf and saved by Sommer who had to get down low at his near post.
Bayern are like a drug addict at the moment and their drug? Winning. The Bavarian giants took the decisive lead on eighty-five minutes when Pavard made up for his earlier error by putting it on a plate for Leon Goretzka to tap-in.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Pavard, Cuisance, Perisic, Boateng, Goretzka, Hernandez, Gnabry, Alaba, Kimmich, Zirkzee
Subs: Ulreich, Ordiozola, Martinez, Davies, Singh, Coman, Batista-Meier, Wreidt, Musiala
Borussia M’gladbach: Sommer, Kramer, Herrmann, Thuram, Stindl, Lainer, Hofmann, Bensebaini, Ginter, Elvedi, Neuhaus
Subs: Sippel, Doucoure, Traore, Wendt, Benes, Jantschke, Musel, Quizera, Embolo
Goals: Zirkzee 25’, Pavard (og) 36’, Goretzka 85′
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 