MIn the middle of the playing field, where the lawn usually shimmers as lush green as a young apple, were the chunks. Brown, churned-up earth in lump form, every single evidence of a meeting in which football was more worked than played over long stretches.
The 22 players from RB Leipzig and FC Bayern plowed the pitch with their tunnels in such a way that an army of helpers was necessary during the half-time break to restore the playing area to some extent. At this point in time, Leipzig were 0: 1 back at home despite great efforts, and in the end it was even 1: 4. A hefty rubdown, for RB it was already the third defeat in their fourth game.
A false start that raises more than the question of whether Leipzig can be considered the main competitor of Munich, as in the past two years, or whether it will be a season of transition for RB. The gap to Bayern is already seven points at this early stage. “The claim is that we no longer give away a seven-point lead,” said Bayern player Thomas Müller on Sky TV.
The game did not only draw its explosiveness from the younger placements of both clubs, but also from the fact that a Leipzig trio has switched sides in the past few weeks and months. Not just any, but supporting pillars such as coach Julian Nagelsmann, defense chief Dayot Upamecano and finally also captain Marcel Sabitzer. That brought back memories of the times when it was an integral part of Munich’s transfer strategy to buy away the most important players from their worst competitors. Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund know what we’re talking about.
So now Leipzig, where the Munich shopping frenzy has resulted in a serious imbalance in the statics. How much the team and the new coach Jessé Marsch still have to find each other became clear during the 90 minutes. However, there is hardly any time for this, in the coming week the Champions League will face the English champions Manchester City (Wednesday, 9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and at Dazn). The next difficult task.
For Marsch’s predecessor Nagelsmann there were loud whistles from the Leipzig audience even before the game started, as did Upamecano. The same happened to Sabitzer after his substitution. Nagelsmann established RB nationally and internationally during his two years as a trainer in Leipzig. He reached the semi-finals in the Champions League, the final in the DFB Cup and second in the championship. He only had the stigma of not being able to win the really important games. In Munich he freed himself from it, the sovereign victory against RB was a clear signal to the competition and at the same time a successful rehearsal for the start in the Champions League on Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and at Dazn) FC Barcelona.
The top game started with a lot of speed and excitement. After two minutes, Leipzig called for a penalty, which was not given. In the opinion of the referees, Thomas Müller’s handball was not clear enough for that. Different on the other side. Leipzig’s Kevin Kampl put the ball in front of his own penalty area with his upper arm, Robert Lewandowski safely converted the penalty (12th). It was the sixth goal of the season for the Pole.
Munich cheers on a pleasant evening of games: Bayern win 4-1 in Leipzig
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Build: AP
With the lead in their backs, Munich controlled the game, Leipzig did not come up with enough ideas to pose problems for the Bavarian defense. Up until the last third, the hosts’ game was pleasant, but Bayern had everything under control in the really dangerous zones. Only Angeliño had the chance to equalize (35th). But this was not preceded by a successful play but an unsuccessful header defense by Upamecano. RB not only lacked creativity, but also a driver who kept running towards the opponent in order to force him to act. One like Sabitzer was.
Dominik Szoboszlai is supposed to be the new turning point in the Leipzig game, but the Hungarian remained ineffective on that day. The same was true of Dani Olmo. Leipzig’s most expensive entry of the summer, the Portuguese André Silva, put the ball into the goal once, but the goal was correctly not given due to an offside position (51).
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At this point it was already 2-0 for Bayern. Jamal Musiala, who came on break, scored 67 seconds after coming on. The conspicuous Leroy Sané almost increased shortly afterwards, but his conclusion was too imprecise (51st). Lewandowski didn’t do much better (53rd). It was Bayern’s strongest phase, crowned by Sané’s 3-0 win. The national player pushed an input from Musiala over the line without any problems.
Leipzig never gave up in this brilliant second half, the reward was the remarkable connection goal from Konrad Laimer, who carried the ball from 25 meters into the corner. Bayern’s victory was no longer in danger, however, as Munich’s dominance in all parts of the field was too great. Substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting even increased the result in stoppage time.
“Four goals hurt. The two goals after the break shouldn’t happen like that, it was too easy. It was not enough to take something with me today, ”said Laimer at Sky. Laimer’s former coach Nagelsmann saw room for improvement despite the clear result: “We weren’t that much better measured by the difference in goals. We can do a lot better and play better, ”he said. He enjoyed his return to Leipzig, said Nagelsmann. The four goals of his team should have consoled the whistles.
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