FC Bayern – Joshua Kimmich’s rascal free kick: Julian Nagelsmann praises tipster Toni Tapalovic

In the brilliant 6:1 at the start of the season at Eintracht Frankfurt, Joshua Kimmich scored the 1:0 after just five minutes with a clever free kick. It wasn’t a product of chance.

When referee Deniz Aytekin gave the free kick, Frankfurt’s penalty area was still very foggy due to the fireworks from the hosts’ fan block. Most of the spectators didn’t even notice that the ball landed in the goal from a half-right position after Joshua Kimmich’s shot.

The fact that Kimmich chose the near post and used the obvious confusion of Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was thanks to the good preparation of the coaching team. “There’s a lot of praise for Toni Tapalovic, our goalkeeper coach, and Dino Toppmöller, assistant coach who is responsible for set pieces,” explained Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann Sat 1.

Nagelsmann explained: “The tip came from Tapa (Toni Tapalovic, editor’s note) that we have options there. I actually thought that was a bit far away for the variant, but we discussed that this morning . That’s very well done by Josh.” Nagelsmann sent back afterwards that it was “great work” from the two coaching colleagues.

Kimmich himself also had words of praise for Tapalovic: “He announced it a bit during the week. We practiced lateral free kicks and he then said: ‘The Trappo is always a bit higher.’ And then I thought: I’ll try it.”

Thanks to more goals from Benjamin Pavard (11′), Sadio Mane (29′), Jamal Musiala (35′, 83′) and Sergen Gnabry (43′), FC Bayern won 6-1. Newcomer Kolo Muani (64th) scored for Frankfurt to make it 1:5.