The CL duel against Paris Saint-Germain in the back of their minds, VfL Bochum in front of their chests: FC Bayern struggled for a long time in the Bundesliga dress rehearsal.
München – The duel against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in the back of your mind, the VfL Bochum in front of the chest: The FC Bayern did in the Bundesliga difficult for a long time during the dress rehearsal, but ultimately completed it successfully.
After initial problems, FC Bayern Munich clearly prevailed against VfL Bochum on the 20th match day of the Bundesliga. © Peter Kneffel/dpa
As expected, the German record champions played decisively on the 20th match day against the outsiders from the Ruhr area, who last won in August 1991 in Munich.
What the hosts in the Allianz Arena offered, especially in the last third, over long stretches of the one-sided encounter, should have caused one or the other question mark for many fans with a view to the cracker against PSG.
The Munich team acted sometimes overly playful, often not thinking and acting quickly enough and, above all, with too little determination in the end.
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There was no 7-0 gala like in the first leg, but goals from Thomas Müller (41st minute), Kingsley Coman (64th) and Serge Gnabry (74th) gave the result on Saturday after the final whistle emblazoned on the scoreboard.
In the end there was an unchallenged 3-0 (1-0) win against courageous guests, who felt the bitter battle in the DFB Cup against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening in the second half in particular.
The Munich team, who, despite a warning from coach Julian Nagelsmann in the run-up to the game, naturally had the upcoming game on Tuesday in their heads, made life unnecessarily difficult for themselves against coach Thomas Letsch’s courageous and constantly high-starting team, and acted often not focused enough.
Thomas Müller gives FC Bayern Munich the lead against VfL Bochum
Scream of salvation: Thomas Müller scored the important 1-0 lead for FC Bayern Munich against VfL Bochum in the first half. © Peter Kneffel/dpa
Leroy Sané, who had the great opportunity to lead Bayern early on, was a symbol of this. However, instead of looking for the end directly on the five, he wanted to put the ball past the opponent and frittered it away in the 4th minute. In general, the winger did not cut a good figure, often got bogged down in dribbling and played sloppy passes.
Apart from a header to the side netting by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (16th) and a shot from the back by Gnabry, the keeper Manuel Riemann, who immediately beforehand perfectly anticipated and repelled a pass from Sané from the baseline in the five to the middle had been able to defuse in the 35th minute, little was offered.
At least until a catastrophic mistake by Saidy Janko. The full-back wanted to play a back pass to Riemann, but couldn’t begin to put the necessary momentum behind the ball.
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The goalkeeper was able to hinder Müller, who had guessed the chance in the usual manner and had already started, but the Munich player got the ball but ultimately secure it – and slide the left slipper into the empty box from 18 meters to give the series champion a 1-0 lead (41st).
FC Bayern beats VfL Bochum: Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry net for the record champions
Serge Gnabry (left) scored to make it 3-0 between FC Bayern Munich and VfL Bochum. © Peter Kneffel/dpa
Leon Goretzka, who played for Joshua Kimmich, who was suspended after his yellow-red card against VfL Wolfsburg, missed after a corner from Serge Gnabry and a header from Matthijs de Ligt, which Riemann had only been able to fend off. still to be refilled. He headed the ball past the Letsch troop goal from a few yards (45′).
The guests, who were extremely energetic defensively but completely harmless offensively, only scored their first goal of the game through Philipp Hofmann in the second half. However, Yann Sommer was there (52nd).
On the other side, Coman made the preliminary decision just five minutes after he came on for Joao Cancelo: served by Musiala, the joker pulled from an acute angle – and heaved the leather through the legs of the not-looking Riemann to make it 2-0 into Bochum’s meshes (64th).
The final point then belonged to Gnabry. The winger first took a penalty himself and then converted it coldly into the bottom left corner to make it 3-0 (74th). Janko was involved again and had brought down Gnabry.
Even if the result was right in the end: Against world champion Lionel Messi and the star-studded team from Paris, a focused performance is needed to lay the foundation for entering the CL quarter-finals.
Statistics for the Bundesliga game between FC Bayern and VfL Bochum
20th matchday
FC Bayern Munich – VfL Bochum 3:0 (1:0)
lineups
FC Bayern: Sommer – Pavard, Upamecano, de Ligt – Goretzka – Gnabry, Cancelo (60. Coman) – Sané (77. Ibrahimovic), Musiala (67. Blind) – Müller (46. Davies), Choupo-Moting (67. Tel)
VfL Bochum: Riemann – Janko, Ordets, Masovic, Stafylidis – Kunde Malong (85th Osterhage), Losilla – Zoller (68th Asano), Förster (46th Stöger), Antwi-Adjei (68th Holtmann) – Hofmann (68th Ganvoula)
Referee: Matthias Joellenbeck (Fribourg)
Viewers: 75.000
Tore: 1:0 Muller (41.), 2:0 Coman (64.), 3:0 Gnabry (73./Foulelfmeter)
Yellow cards: Nagelsmann (43.), Tel (79.) / Ordets (89.)