“I’ve never been so destroyed”
Bavaria’s show of force makes the league suffer
08/22/2022, 12:31 p.m
Robert Lewandowski is gone, the league is finally getting exciting. That is the hope of many football fans for this Bundesliga season. But what were they wrong about? FC Bayern has rushed again, the eleventh championship in a row seems unstoppable. The competition is groaning.
Simon Zoller reacted with awe to FC Bayern’s most recent demonstration of power. The superiority of Munich in the 0:7 (0:4) lesson for his team hit the attacker from VfL Bochum on the mind. “We were shown the limits according to all the rules of the art, we were completely screwed up. I’ve never been destroyed like this,” confessed the 31-year-old. The wailing of the veteran fits the mood in the Bundesliga. In view of Bayern’s starting record, the competition seems to be capitulating – after only the third day of play.
All the hopes of many football fans for more excitement in the title fight are currently proving to be wishful thinking. Never before has a team started the first three games with nine points and an impressive goal difference of +14. Even a perfectionist like Julian Nagelsmann currently has no reason to complain. The Bayern coach followed the final minutes of the game on the sidelines with great composure and a blissful smile. “We don’t set ourselves any limits,” he enthused, referring to the growing team spirit: “Everyone treats everyone to everything. That wasn’t always the case last year. That’s very pleasant.”
Record champion lives up to its own claims
With an ease that is frightening for the competition, the Munich team seized the opportunity and moved up to the top of the table. Joshua Kimmich felt the victory was “very confident and very spectacular”. Similar to the coach, the national player has made progress as a collective: “It’s a lot of fun at the moment because there’s a lot of energy in the squad.”
In contrast to the supposed main competitors in the title fight from Dortmund, Leverkusen and Leipzig, who all failed at the weekend, the record champion has so far lived up to its claims. Despite the departure of world footballer Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona, Bayern seem even stronger than in previous years with ten championship titles in a row. “We’ve not only gotten better across the board, but also at the top,” said Kimmich.
It speaks for the class of the entire squad that the three professionals Leroy Sané (4th), Matthijs de Ligt (25th) and Kingsley Coman (33rd) who were rotated into the starting team provided the first three goals and the early decision. Goals from Sadio Mané (42’/60′) and Serge Gnabry (77′) rounded off the confident performance, and Bochum’s Christian Gamboa (69′) also scored into his own net. FC Bayern took revenge for the 2: 4 at the same venue this February. “We’re already at 100 percent, but we already know that the season will be very long,” said the strong Coman, commenting on the team’s amazing early form.
Nagelsmann is in agony
Despite all the joy at the team performance, Nagelsmann gave the lively Sané special praise after his first appearance in this Bundesliga season: “He is a player who polarizes with his style. But if he is one hundred percent in the mood, he is one of the best players in Europe.” Because new signing de Ligt and winger Coman also made a starting eleven debut that is well worth seeing, the coach is spoiled for choice before what is probably the first real test of the season against the feared opponent from Mönchengladbach: “The decision as to who will play on Saturday is not so easy now.”
The upcoming games against second Gladbach and third Union Berlin will show whether Munich really play in a league of their own this year. The questionable record against the Fohlen-Elf last season with defeats in the championship (1: 2) and in the cup (0: 5) and a draw (1: 1) can not scare Nagelsmann: “We will also against Gladbach make a good game, I’m sure of that.” If the series champion prevails in these two games as well, it could revive the discussion about the introduction of playoff games to increase the tension in the title fight.