Hertha Berlin 0-1 Bayern Munich
Bundesliga Matchday 20
05/02/21
Lewandowski missed a penalty ending a nine game scoring streak but Bayern still came through 1-0 against Hertha Berlin to go ten points clear in the league.
It was Bayern’s fifth win in a row meaning the Bavarian’s take a double figure lead in the table with second placed Leipzig playing tomorrow.
The win will leave Bayern satisfied as they now move from league business to play in the Club World Championships.
Lewandowski’s scoring streak (9 matches) came to an end however this time Manual Neuer is the player to break records, keeping the most clean sheets against a single club with tonight’s shut out – 16 in 23 matches against Berlin.
The defeat is Hertha Berlin’s fifth in six games leaving the Old Lady in a relegation scrap.
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First half – record breakers
Make no mistake about it, we are currently witnessing one of the great Bayern sides.
Not only are the Reds on the cusp of becoming the next European team since Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side of 2009 to win six trophies in a season – if Bayern win the Club World Cup Championships, which they head out to play in Qatar after tonight’s game – Bayern also have players in the side that are going down as greats in the club’s history.
Thomas Muller is steadily rising up the appearances table, currently in his fifth century of games for the club. Lewandowski is aiming to break a seemingly impossible goal record set almost fifty years ago by the great Gerd Muller, and Manual Neuer is re-writing the goalkeeping charts having surpassed Oliver Kahn’s record of most clean sheets in Bundesliga and now looking for the most clean sheets against a single side.
Neuer has locked Berlin out fifteen times in twenty-two appearances. Tonight the German wonder stopper had to be at his best in brutal conditions, especially for a keeper – driving sleet and snow. Neuer was called upon within three minutes to make an excellent save with his feet one-on-one against Dodi Lukebakio, who got in behind Lucas Hernandez.
Lewandowski misses a pen
Flick said he was delighted with a full week of training and this perhaps partly explained the reason the Bayern boss was confident enough to experiment with a 4-1-4-1 formation having only Joshua Kimmich as a marshal in front of the defence. Kimmich’s regular midfield partner Leon Goretzka is currently in isolation for covid which comes to an end tonight.
It meant for the first time Sane, Coman, Muller and Gnabry all started and it took this attacking quartet ten minutes to carve Bayern’s first guilt edge opening of the game. A through ball was played to Sane who got there ahead of Berlin keeper Rune Jarstein. It was a stonewall penalty – almost as certain it was a foul as it was that Lewandowski would score, but, low and behold, Jarstein picked himself up and saved the Pole’s spot kick.
That save probably restored some belief in Berlin players that Lewan is human in front of goal – the Pole reaffirmed his god-like status as a striker in the first fixture between the sides this season, scoring four goals.
What was particularly good to see was referee Robert Schroder keeping the cards in his pocket when perhaps he could have been justified sending Jarstein off. Borderline red cards so early in a game, especially a game involving Bayern, end the contest.
Coman opens the scoring with deflected shot
Lewan’s penalty miss was surprising, Bayern scoring was not.
Coman found time on the edge of the box to get his shot away. The strike was heavily deflected by the sliding effort of Berlin captain Niklas Stark. Jarstein had played his luck card saving Lewan’s pen, he had no chance now as the ball looped over his head.
Second Half – the enigma that is Matteo Guendouzi
How to rate Matteo Guendouzi? A success or failure at Arsenal? A workhorse? A playmaker? A box-to-box midfielder? A liability? Surely something isn’t going right if the French midfielder is currently on loan at a club battling relegation, but when Guendouzi came on with over half-an-hour to go Berlin came to life.
It was quick thinking from Berlin’s number eight to set Lukebakio away who unselfishly squared it to Piatek who did, for a moment, put an end to Neuer’s clean sheet record. However Neuer was saved by the assistant who raised a late flag for offside.
During the third quarter of the match Berlin had Bayern under pressure. In particular to feel the heat was Bayern’s only defensive midfielder Joshua Kimmich, who became a little exposed in the second half, and who became exasperated with the annoying attentions of Guendouzi relentlessly harrying Bayern’s little general.
Former Real Madrid and Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira was introduced with ten minutes to go, making his first appearance in over a decade in Bundesliga. The 2014 World Cup winner signed for Hertha in the January transfer window. This was the first time he’d stepped onto a football pitch since last June.
Neuer’s record almost fell to the way side right at the death when Matheus Cunha was sent through by, guess who, Guendouzi. The Brazilian saw his clipped finish pass Neuer but roll wide of the post.
MOTM: Manuel Neuer
It’s perhaps a little harsh on Berlin keeper Rune Jarstein, who saved Lewan’s penalty, that his opposite number gets the MOTM however these are poignant moments in Bundesliga history and if it wasn’t for Manuel Neuer Bayern wouldn’t be so comfortably ahead in the league.
Hertha Berlin, 4-2-3-1: Jarstein (GK) – Pekarik, Stark (C), Mittelstadt, Torunarigha (->45’) – Ascacibar (->81’), Tousart – Cunha, Lukebakio (->83’), Darida (->54’) – Piatek (->63’)
Subs: Schwolow (GK), Leckie (->83’), Guendouzi (->54’), Klunter, Alderete (->45’), Lowen, Radonjic (->63’), Khedira (->81’)
Bayern Munich, 4-1-4-1: Neuer (GK) (C) – Pavard, Hernandez, Sule, Alaba – Kimmich – Muller, Gnabry (->73’), Coman (->86’), Sane (->73’) – Lewandowski
Subs: Hoffman (GK), Costa (->73’), Choupo-Moting (->86’), Boateng, Roca, Davies, Sarr, Tolisso (->73’), Musiala
Goals: Coman 21’
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 