Thomas Tuchel made his debut as Bayern Munich manager in a soulful encounter against the club that made his name in the first place, Borussia Dortmund. This gripping duel titled Der Klassiker of the 108th Bundesliga was finally won by Tuchel with a sweet 4-2 victory.
The victory immediately led FC Hollywood to overthrow their opponent from the top of the Bundesliga standings, and got them closer to winning their 11th consecutive league title.
Perhaps there is no such classic title competition in the Bundesliga, apart from Der Klassiker, especially in the last ten years the Bavarian team has been unshakable in always winning the title, since reclaiming the Bundesliga throne a decade ago from Die Borussen nicknamed Dortmund.
The prestigious duel between the two giants of German football took place at the Allianz Arena. The home side took a three-goal lead in their first game under recently sacked coach Chelsea, with the opener coming via a bizarre 13th-minute own goal by Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
Dayot Upamecano sent the ball forward, goalkeeper Gregor Kobel who played brilliantly as Dortmund knocked Chelsea out in the Champions League sprinted trying to clear it but the ball slipped off his feet and into his own goal.
The lead served as a springboard for Thomas Tuchel’s men, to show their total dominance before doubling their advantage five minutes later. From a corner kick situation taken by Joshua Kimmich, Matthijs de Ligt and Thomas Muller prepared to welcome and were at the back post. Thomas Muller manages to poke in from Matthijs de Ligt before Dortmund’s defenders have a chance to react, the Bavarians winning 2-0
It didn’t stop there, Bayern really went berserk, just five minutes later Muller again listed his name on the scoreboard. A Leroy Sane attempt from a long-range attack was parried by Kobel, but Muller fiercely pounced on the rebound to make the game look very easy for the hosts, the Allianz Arena crowd excited by Tuchel’s early breakthrough.
Bayern Munich calmly took complete control of the match for the remainder of the first half, and Tuchel will surely be overjoyed, but perhaps also sad, given his fond memories of Dortmund.
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic hoped that there would be some change in the second half, making two substitutions early in the second half trying to turn the fortunes around for his side, but the arch-rivals were undeterred and even added another goal just five minutes after kick-off. Leroy Sane played the cross open with the ball headed for Kingsley Coman, who finished easily against Kobel.
4-0 advantage, making Bayern a little off guard, although still dominating. The visitors got a glimmer of hope when Jude Bellingham was brought down by Serge Gnabry in the forbidden box. Emre Can, who appeared as the executioner, calmly executed the perfect execution to reduce their 4-1 deficit.
Even though Bayern relaxed a little, the BVB troops still had difficulty penetrating the opponent’s defense area. Entering injury time the visitors got a consolation goal, a beautiful one-two game by Raphael Guerreiro and Donyell Malen was successfully completed by Malen who took a side kick into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
This is the 9th victory in Bayern’s last game over Dortmund at the Allianz Arena with an aggregate goal of 37-8. Bayern’s last defeat to Dortmund at the Allianz Arena occurred in the match on April 27 2017, at which time Dortmund won 2-3, through goals scored by Marco Reus, Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele which replied to Bayern’s goals scored by Javi Martinez and Mats Hummels.
With eight games remaining, Bayern are still the strongest favorites to win the trophy. Bayern lead with 55 points, 2 points ahead of Dortmund who followed in second place and 4 points from Union Berlin, which is surprisingly in a position of competition for the title this season.
ASL
