FC Bayern beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 and remains on the heels of league leaders Bayer Leverkusen a week before the direct duel.
Decisive scene: Moritz Nicolas (left) and Thomas Müller climb up to the ball before Bayern make it 2-1. picture alliance / Eibner press photo
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, who was on the sidelines even after a virus infection, made two substitutions after the 3-2 away win in Augsburg: instead of Coman (torn knee ligament) and Guerreiro (bench), Mazraoui and Müller started. The new signings Boey and Zaragoza initially sat on the bench.
Gladbach’s coach Gerardo Seoane also made two changes compared to the 0-0 draw at leaders Leverkusen. Instead of Koné and Hack (both bench), Reitz, who recently extended his contract, and Ngoumou started.
After a setup error: Elvedi slots in easily
The opening phase clearly belonged to Bayern, who had two excellent chances early on thanks to Sané: first the national player failed with a hard shot against the crossbar (5th), then the offensive player maneuvered the ball from close range in front of VfL keeper Nicolas on the left past the goal (10th).
Bayern initially clearly set the tone as the game progressed. Kane with a precise free kick forced Nicolas into a brilliant save in the 31st minute. Shortly afterwards, Gladbach, who had hardly appeared offensively until then, suddenly had a moment of urgency: Neuhaus’ shot was just defused by de Ligt (33′), Jordan headed just wide from a good position (34′).
But then the time had come. After a build-up pass from Neuer to Müller, who was under pressure from Elvedi, the Swiss intercepted the ball and, after a one-two with Jordan, scored to give Borussia a surprising lead (35′).
Pavlovic scores like a goalscorer
The Munich team, who had been clearly superior for 30 minutes, then seemed a bit outnumbered, but after a successful attack on the right side, including a clever pass from Müller, Pavlovic scored the deserved 1-1 equalizer before the break (45th minute). ).
After the break, the game was initially quite open. After a dangerous shot from Netz (47th), Musiala failed to hit the side netting after a one-two with Müller on the other side (48th). As the game progressed, Bayern became more dominant again, but the record champions only rarely created clear chances. Exception: Kane was denied by Nicolas from 13 meters in the 63rd minute. At this point, Boey had already made his Bundesliga debut and Mazraoui left the field (62′).
Nicolas misses, Kane dusts off
The preliminary decision in the game came in the 70th minute: Goretzka crossed high into the penalty area, where Nicolas rose to the ball in a duel with Müller, but was unable to clear the ball properly. So Kane said “Thank you” with a header into the empty goal – 2:1. Gladbach then tried to find an answer, but no longer had a clear chance to score. Instead, de Ligt made the final score 3-1 with a header from a free-kick cross (86th).
For Bayern’s Müller it was also the 500th competitive game win in the Munich jersey.
The Munich team will travel to Leverkusen for the top game next Saturday (6.30 p.m.). Gladbach will play in the cup quarter-finals on Wednesday against Bayern conquerors Saarbrücken (8:45 p.m.) and then in the Bundesliga on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) against Darmstadt 98.