Saturday 23 October 2021
Freiburg exacerbates the wolves crisis
FC Bayern takes apart the next team
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are busy switching through after the Champions League – and mastering their Bundesliga tasks against Hoffenheim and Bielefeld with ease. Two dream goals from Lewandowski and Bellingham stand out. The indomitable Freiburg win, Leipzig struggles.
FC Bayern Munich – 1899 Hoffenheim 4-0 (2-0)
Bayern Munich remains on the road to success even without coach Julian Nagelsmann, who is suffering from Corona. The German record champions won against TSG Hoffenheim 4-0 (2-0) and remained at the top of the table. Nagelsmann coached his Bavarians from the kitchen. From there he passed on his instructions to substitute boss Dino Toppmöller via the “analysis center”.
Three days after the impressive 4: 0 in Lisbon in the premier class, Serge Gnabry scored the lead for the superior Bayern in the 16th minute. Striker Robert Lewandowski followed up with a dream goal in the 30th minute in front of 60,000 spectators. It was the tenth goal of the season for the world footballer. The jokers Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (82nd) and Kingsley Coman (87th) made everything clear.
Already on Wednesday (8.45 p.m. / ARD, Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) Bayern will continue in the Cup in Gladbach. Hoffenheim expects second division Kiel on Tuesday. It remains to be seen whether Nagelsmann can freely test himself to the classic at Borussia. He has currently built himself a small “analysis center” in isolation, he said on Friday, “it looks like a data center – in the kitchen, mind you, so that I have a short way to tea”.
From there Nagelsmann saw a brisk start, but Lewandowski carelessly left the early lead in a first big chance (2nd). Shortly afterwards Gnabry scored, but the hit was not recognized by video evidence. On Gnabry’s second attempt, everything was correct. The last pass after a successful ball relay came from young star Jamal Musiala. The national player had moved into the Bayern starting line-up for the last strong Leroy Sané, who missed the ailing Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies. In addition, Omar Richards, who has only had two short assignments so far, started for Niklas Süle.
This did not change the usual dominance of Bayern. With a great shot from a good 20 meters into the corner, Lewandowski ensured clear conditions early on. Shortly before the break, the Pole should have added up, but failed because of the strongly reacting TSG goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, as did Gnabry a few seconds after the change.
Hoffenheim, who, according to coach Sebastian Hoeneß “really want to annoy Bayern”, initially remained harmless. It became dangerous for the first time with a shot by Ihlas Bebou (50th). Otherwise, the Munich team stayed on the trigger without shining. It was only towards the end that TSG came up for a short time, then Bayern struck again.
Arminia Bielefeld – Borussia Dortmund 1: 3 (0: 2)
Bayern hunter Borussia Dortmund has found its way back to success four days after the “nightmare of Amsterdam” even without Erling Haaland. The cup winner kept the pressure on record champions Bayern Munich upright with a lackluster 3: 1 (2: 0) at Arminia Bielefeld in the absence of his injured exceptional striker.
The full match report is available here.
VfL Wolfsburg – SC Freiburg 0: 2 (0: 1)
The still unbeaten SC Freiburg has continued its streak of success and aggravated the sporting crisis at VfL Wolfsburg. The team of coach Christian Streich deservedly won 2-0 (1-0) at Lower Saxony, for Wolfsburg this meant the eighth game in a row without a win and the fourth league defeat in a row.
Philipp Lienhart took the lead in front of 10,251 spectators, and the central defender scored from close range in the 27th minute. After intervention from the video cellar, referee Tobias Welz recognized the goal, previously the assistant on the line had indicated an offside position. In the middle of a Wolfsburg urge period, Lucas Höler scored the second goal after a remarkable counterattack with a low shot (68th). As with the first goal, the VfL defense did not look good.
The initial phase clearly belonged to the Freiburgers, who made the hosts look bad with their precise passing game and orderly running paths. The opening goal was a deserved reward. Three days after the 3-1 defeat in the Champions League at RB Salzburg, the North Germans looked unsettled and cautious at the same time.
VfL coach Mark van Bommel initially watched the action motionless. His opposite prank, on the other hand, was in a good mood and repeatedly shouted “Keep it up” to his protégés. In the 32nd minute, the video assistant was called upon again, but after an attack by VfL captain Koen Casteels against Lukas Kübler, the decision against a penalty kick remained.
Only Lukas Nmecha occasionally caused danger in front of the Freiburg gate. In the 36th minute, the U21 European champions showed their speed and hit the crossbar after a solo. Nevertheless, the spectators said goodbye to the hosts at halftime with whistles in the cabin. After the restart, van Bommel watched the almost helpless actions of his players for ten minutes. Then the Dutchman reacted and replaced two more offensive players with Maximilian Philipp and Dodi Lukebakio.
But initially it did not result in more than a growing field superiority. A goal by Nmecha (61st) was rightly not recognized because of handball. But slowly the strength dwindled at the SC, the long-term purposeful actions were now more erratic – until Höler made the decision.
RB Leipzig – SpVgg Greuther Fürth 4: 1 (0: 1)
Vice-champion RB Leipzig prevented the next setback with a strong will. Against the bottom of the table, SpVgg Greuther Fürth, the Saxons, harmless before the break, won 4: 1 (0: 1) after being 0: 1 behind. Four days after the good Champions League appearance at Paris St. Germain (2: 3) Leipzig remained unbeaten in the fifth league game in a row, but only convinced in round two.
Yussuf Poulsen (46th), Emil Forsberg (53rd, penalty kick), who turned 30 on Saturday, Dominik Szoboszlai (65th) and Hugo Novoa (88th) secured the success of the favorite. Before that, captain Branimir Hrgota (45th, penalty kick) gave the promoted team the lead. It was the eighth loss of the season and the seventh in a row for the Franks, who only have one counter. This is a negative record in the professional history of Fürth.
After the so far “best game of the season” (march) in Paris, the American changed the RB team to four positions. Among other things, Benjamin Henrichs, who was recently openly dissatisfied, made his starting line-up debut on the right-hand side. Marsch’s counterpart, Stefan Leitl, had described the away game in Leipzig as “not an unsolvable task” despite the poor record in Fürth. And things got off to a good start for the guests. The Leitl team had more possession at the beginning and was poisonous in the duels in midfield, so RB did not get too close to the opposing goal. Instead, Fürth became dangerous. After a cross from Jaime Leweling from the left, Jeremy Dudziak (6th) did not head the ball on goal – there was more in it. While the Leipziger got stuck with advances again and again, the underdog came through surprisingly well over the wings.
Even if RB increased aggressively towards the end of the first round, the yield was low. Numerous mistakes in simple passes prevented the hosts from building up the game properly. And they made the people of Fürth strong. After an attack that had actually been resolved, the ball suddenly landed in front of Dudziak’s (42nd) feet, who failed due to RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. The controversial penalty kick followed two minutes later after Nordi Mukiele fell to Leweling in an aerial duel. Hrgota converted the penalty safely.
After the break, Leipzig appeared more passionate from the start, including Poulsen for Kevin Kampl, which promptly paid off. Only seconds after the restart, the ball found the Dane, who hit from a half-right position. Shortly afterwards, Poulsen also took the penalty when Marco Meyerhöfer brought him down in the penalty area – Forsberg hit precisely on the bottom left. RB had now found a game, the substitute Szoboszlai increased after a nice combination.