15:30 kickoffs: Bayern rout nine-man Darmstadt, Stuttgart lose without Guirassy, Augsburg win again
An extremely wild set of 15:30 kickoffs in the German Bundesliga featured high score-lines, plenty of goals (including three turned into their own net), and a full five sending offs on red cards.
Three of the red cards even came in the first half of one single match, Bayern against SV Darmstadt 98. Bayern ultimately emerged the big winners with an 8-0 rout in the second 45 at the Allianz.
Augsburg, Bremen, Gladbach, and Stuttgart also defeated respective opponents Wolfsburg, Union Berlin, Heidenheim, and Hoffenheim.
Three of the red cards even came in the first half of one single match, Bayern against SV Darmstadt 98. Bayern ultimately emerged the big winners with an 8-0 rout in the second 45 at the Allianz.
Augsburg, Bremen, Gladbach, and Stuttgart also defeated respective opponents Wolfsburg, Union Berlin, Heidenheim, and Hoffenheim.
FCB trainer Tuchel made just the one change to the XI that topped Galatasaray 3-1 in Istanbul of Tuesday. After the long-injury layoff following his skiing injury last winter, Manuel Neuer stood in goal for the German giants for the first time since November 12th, 2022. The German footballing legend donned the captain's armband in his return to action.
Torsten Lieberknecht made three changes to the squad that lost at home against Leipzig last week. Squad captain Fabian Holland had to pass due to back problems. Fabian Schnellhardt took the skipper's place. Klaus Gjasula and Matthias Bader also rotated in ahead of Jannik Müller and Oscar Vilhelmsson. The armband went to Tobias Kempe.
The hosting Bavarians began energetically, pushing high and deep open the attack. It became clear early on that their guests would get some opportunities on the counter. Bader and Marvin Mehlem drove a pair of drives back the other way inside the opening three minutes. The first red card of the match came in the 4th minute when Kimmich, having lost the ball to Mehlem, rushed back to put an emergency stop on his SV98 midfield counterpart.
Match official Martin Pedersen had no choice bit to eject Kimmich as he was the outfielder standing between Mehlem and the goal. There could be few complaints, though Tuchel made a point of raising his objections. Pedersen ended up booking Tuchel for dissent. Pedersen's very busy first half was nowhere near complete. The 38-year-old would continue to find himself reaching into his book.
Despite being down a man, Bayern were the offensively more active side following Kimmich's sending-off. Leroy Sané - set up nicely in both cases by Harry Kane - got a couple of nice efforts on goal. The next red card came in the 21st minute after a lengthy review. Petersen and the VAR team had to re-examine a scene in which Klaus Gjasula dug into Konrad Laimer's heels in the 19th.
Petersen initially awarded a penalty to Bayern and cautioned Gjasula with a yellow. After review, however, Gjasula's infraction was ruled worthy of a red card and replays confirmed that contact took place just outside the penalty area. Like Kimmich earlier, Gjuasula was the only outfielder standing between Laimer and goal. The two sides were back to playing in equal numbers.
With only 18 outfielders on the pitch, there was plenty of back-and-forth play between two teams eager too capitalize on the extra space. The third red card came in the 41st. Maglica took out Kane with a brutish set of studs to the shin. The tackle was gruesome enough to warrant a straight red even if, just like his fellow violators, he had been the last outfielder to beat.
The second half fortunately featured far fewer cards and many more goals. Kane headed some the 1-0 in the 51st after some nice set-up work from Jamal Musiala and Noussair Mazraoui. Sané - very much continuing to exhibit the fine form he did prior to the international break - scored the 2-0 five minutes later on a play he himself initiated.
With the floodgates firmly thrown open, traffic only headed in one direction at the Allianz. Musiala and Kane continued to pepper the Darmstadt goal until the former scored the 3-0 at the hour-mark. Sané completed a scorer's brace with the 4-0 four minutes later. Kane registered his own brace with the 5-0 five minutes after that.
Thomas Müller came off the bench to score the 6-0 in the 71st. Müller set up Musiala's brace with a quick one-two on the 7-0 in the 76th. Everyone in white wished to get in on the action as the clock wound down in Munich. Substitute Mathys Tel very nearly got his name on the scoresheet with a pair of late chances. In the end, was Harry Kane on the 8-0 in the 88th.
The Englishman completed his second hat trick for his new German club. The three goals - though sword in the same half - still don't qualify as a flawless hat trick since other goal-scorers came between them. Serhou Guirassy remains the lone Bundesliga player to have accomplished that feat this season.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga's 15:30 kickoffs, surprise league sensations VfB Stuttgart managed to supply some offensive pop in their first match without the Bundesliga's leading goal-scorer Guirassy. Sebastian Hoeneß' Swabians netted two goals via attackers Chris Führich and Deniz Undav. A missed penalty from Undav nevertheless meant that the Württembergers fell 2-3 to Hoffenheim at home.
FC Augsburg were able to win at home in their second match under newly appointed trainer Jess Thorup. The Fuggerstädter are off to a perfect start under their new head coach. After sending five past Heidenheim last weekend, Thorup's side bested Wolfsburg 3-2 to capture their third win of the season. Heidenheim themselves failed to notch their third win of the year, falling 1-2 away at Gladbach.
Werder Bremen have their third win of the 2023/24 campaign after besting 1. Union Berlin 2-0 at home. The woes continue for Urs Fischer's Eiserenen, who have now lost ten consecutive matches on the trot. To make matters worse, defensive talisman Robin Knoche scored an own-goal in the defeat while Rani Khedira was sent off via another one of the afternoon's red cards.
