Bayern seal "decade of dominance" with eight straight win over Dortmund
German giants FC Bayern München have officially clinched their tenth consecutive Bundesliga title with a 3-1 over their perennial rivals Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz.
Dortmund showed some class in the opening phase, but were quickly undone by two flash-fire Bayern goals.
A second-half penalty allowed the BVB to remain in the match. At the end, Jamal Musiala settled the issue with a late goal.
Dortmund showed some class in the opening phase, but were quickly undone by two flash-fire Bayern goals.
A second-half penalty allowed the BVB to remain in the match. At the end, Jamal Musiala settled the issue with a late goal.
| Photo: Werner100359, CC BY-SA 4.0 |
FCB trainer Nagelsmann made two changes to the XI that beat Bielefeld 3-0 last Sunday. Lucas Hernandez and Kingsley Coman took the place of Tanguy Nianzou and Marcel Sabitzer. Future Dortmund defender Niklas Süle remained on the bench. BVB head-coach Marco Rose gave Marwin Hitz the nod in goal over the injured Gregor Kobel. Raphaël Guerreiro and the scarcely utilized Brazilian youngster Reinier were also inserted for Axel Witsel and last week's unlikely hero Tom Rothe.
Both sides mirrored one another tactically in 4-2-3-1s. A prolonged "feeling out phase" saw the two opponents look about equally lively. To their credit, Dortmund appeared fresh and full of ideas. Up until the 12th minute, the Bavarian hosts seemed to have more difficulty establishing their game. The slight momentum built up by Rose's side nevertheless meant nothing after Bayern scored on the game's first set-piece.
Goretzka deftly headed back a Joshua Kimmich corner back to Serge Gnabry in the 15th. The German national team attacker quickly snapped off a highly technical finish that left Hitz with no chance. Many of the subsequent FCB attacks went down Gnabry's side. Dortmund still put together some elegant passing builds, yet weren't able to get legitimately dangerous chances on goal.
Gnabry thought he had a brace at the half-hour-mark. Marius Wolf, back defending desperately in the box, hit a clearance directly into the streaking Gnabry's direction. The celebrations were cut short when a VAR review confirmed that Coman was offside in the lead-up. Some four minutes later, another BVB error out of the back resulted in a goal that did count. Joshua Kimmich intercepted a Dan-Axel Zagadou pass.
Quick furthers for Müller and then Lewandowski ended with the Polish super striker polishing off his 33rd league goal of the campaign. Everything was going to plan for the some side. The NRW guests accomplished little in response. Both coach Rose and Emré Can were booked by match official Daniel Siebert in the 41st as tensions boiled over.
Dortmund were unexpectedly gifted a way back into the match four minutes after the restart. Kimmich took out BVB skipper Marco Reus in the box in the 49th. Emré Can had to wait to take the spot kick whilst Siebert tried to calm down players on both sides. Finally, in the 52nd, the Borussia defender converted for the 1-2.
Reus came very close to scoring the equalizer in the 54th. A much more determined BVB side rattled off a series of promising attacks over the next ten minutes. Dortmund thought they had another penalty at the hour mark when Benjamin Pavard hacked down Jude Bellingham. The VAR review team determined that it was not enough.
The two sides traded blows in some very exciting end-to-end action over the next ten minutes. Keeper Hitz bailed his team out in the 69th with a very sharp parry of a close-range Lewandowski effort. At the other end, Dortmund were able to cause some trouble with a pair of chances involving Erling Haaland in the 80th and 81st.
Bayern would have been able to clinch the title with a draw, but young phenom Jamal Musiala saw to it that his team captured the title in style. The German international initially failed to beat Hitz. Fellow substitute Sabitzer nevertheless got the ball back to him after Guerreiro failed to clear. Musiala sunk the third Bayern goal in the 83rd, effectively settling the matter.