Borussia Dortmund’s lead in the Bundesliga only lasted one matchday. With the 4:2 in a direct duel between the two best German teams, FC Bayern Munich took over the place in the sun again on the 26th matchday and gave the new coach Thomas Tuchel a tailor-made debut.
A game as a self-fulfilling prophecy: BVB lost again in the fight for the championship in a direct duel and lost their place at the top of the table again after just one matchday with a 2:4. The goals for Bayern were scored by Gregor Kobel with an own goal (13′), Thomas Müller (18′, 23′) and Kingsley Coman (51′). Emre Can (72’/FE) and Donyell Malen (90′) ensured the cosmetic result.
FC Bayern Munich remains unbeaten in the ninth game in a row against Borussia Dortmund, only in the 2-2 in the first half of the season in Dortmund did the Munich points lie.
In addition to double goal scorer Müller and the extremely strong defender Dayot Upamecano, Leroy Sané also impressed as a right winger. At BVB, goalkeeper Kobel made numerous mistakes. But even new national player Marius Wolf seemed completely overwhelmed.
On Matchday 27, FC Bayern Munich travels to SC Freiburg, while BVB welcomes Union Berlin. In the DFB Cup during the week, Munich also welcomes Freiburg, while BVB plays for RB Leipzig.
Bayern Munich’s sports director Oliver Kahn attended the Bavarian gala before the kick-off sky with his former teammate Lothar Matthäus and once again defended the manner in which Julian Nagelsmann was kicked out.
FC Bayern Munich – Borussia Dortmund: The analysis
BVB started with the successful formation of the last few weeks and in its 4-3-3 in the early minutes, but only there, seemed a bit more stable than Munich. After seven minutes, Matthijs de Ligt saved Bayern from going behind after a magical moment from Marius Wolf.
Thomas Tuchel had already thrown up his hands over his head because of a few bad passes from his new team; his team, formed in a mixture of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 with initially comparatively deep full-backs and Thomas Müller behind the only point Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, should obviously play more vertically than last time under the bang on fall shot Julian Nagelsmann and quickly bridge the midfield with direct, wide passes.
That only worked to a limited extent at the beginning, then excellently, albeit out of nowhere and with the kind help of BVB keeper Gregor Kobel: Dayot Upamecano had all the space and time in the world about ten meters behind the center line for a wide, opening pass to the right wing, which fortunately got a bit too central from FC Bayern’s point of view. Kobel ran out of the penalty area and – in front of the approaching Leroy Sané – slapstick-like, especially over the ball, which rolled into the goal without touching a player.
After that it was always the same game between Bayern and Borussia Dortmund in Munich. Before the kick-off, you could have simply taken the 5-0 in the 2018/2019 season or the 4-0 in the following season as a replay, when BVB also went into the game with very high ambitions and hopes and got completely under the wheels.
After a Bayern corner kick, Nico Schlotterbeck first lost the aerial duel against de Ligt, then Julian Brandt was not quite in the best position against goal scorer Müller. And kobel? Could have closed his corner a little faster. At the latest, the Bayern machine was rolling and after the next goal scene at the latest, Kobel was only to be pitied: Sané forced Julian Ryerson to lose the ball, pulled inwards and finished. Kobel could only bounce the ball forward, where unfortunately Müller was standing and made it 3-0 without any problems.
You have to give BVB credit for not giving up completely after the early 0:3 and still trying to play along in a friendly way. With an emphasis on “accommodating”, because the only praise has to be a poisoned one. Neither the team nor the coaching team managed to do anything about the numerous sharp and direct diagonal passes (like before Kingsley Comans 4:0) – a well-known instrument of Tuchel’s football – to undertake; Neither the team nor the coaching team managed to raise the pressure higher and, above all, more aggressively.
Only when Tuchel took off Müller (for Serge Gnabry) and striker Choupo-Motung (for Sadio Mané) and Bayern slowed down a bit overall, did BVB score a penalty, which Emre Can safely converted; Gnabry had previously unhappily taken Jude Bellingham off his feet. Shortly before the end, Donyell Malen made sure that BVB won the second half with his well-placed shot into the corner.
FC Bayern Munich – Borussia Dortmund: The voices of the game
Thomas Tuchel (Bayern Munich coach): “I was very nervous today. The game was a bit too open, too wild for me. We want to have more dominance and control in the opposing half. It was too sloppy in the second half, but the will to work against the ball was there available at all times. That will give us peace, confidence and a desire to continue to improve. There are a lot of positive things and at the same time there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
Edin Terzic (Borussia Dortmund coach): “Gregor Kobel is the reason why we came here as leaders. Of course he’s sorry, but it’s important to me that we classify it correctly. It took us too long to shake off the setbacks. Then we’ll still have it again tried in the second half, but it’s the way it is: We have to get on the plane very disappointed. That hurts. Now it’s a matter of processing that, then we’ll look at the table tomorrow: It’s still just two points behind the leaders.”
FC Bayern Munich – Borussia Dortmund: The line-ups
The star of the game: Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
New coach, same game: Thomas Müller is indispensable for Bayern in the important games. Müller not only scored two goals against Dortmund, he was also the player on whom the others could pull themselves up. He walked a lot, gesticulated with sweeping movements, gave commands. The Dortmund defense completely unnerved Müller. Thomas Tuchel will not be able to do without a Müller in this form anytime soon.
The flop of the game: Gregor Kobel (BVB)
The keeper put BVB on the losing side with his slapstick mistake, which was reminiscent of his mistake in the first leg at Union Berlin. Also looked very unhappy at 0: 3 when he could only let Sané’s shot bounce forward to Müller. Then his four saves alone in the first half didn’t help anymore.
The referee: Marco Fritz
The man from Korb didn’t have much to do in what was already his fifth classic between FC Bayern Munich and BVB and in general has certainly been in charge of more complicated Bundesliga games. Emre Can complained vehemently about his early yellow card shortly before the 0: 1, but Korb had to sanction his tough challenge against Joshua Kimmich.
