The carrot of genuine competition will continue to be dangled, even if the latest edition of Der Klassiker was less one-sided
“It is as unexpected as Christmas,” wrote 11 Freunde’s Tobias Ahrens, “but still leaves bitterness.” There are Bayern Munich victories over Borussia Dortmund and there are instances of Bayern Munich winning Der Klassiker, as it is now internationally branded, and there are many different shades of the story to point to with Dortmund having won three and drawn three of the pair’s last 17 Bundesliga meetings.
Yet Saturday night’s latest edition of the fixture, however you want to describe it, requires further nuance in the description, from both sides. After five goals and a see-saw contest in which BVB scored first and last, and Bayern made the journey back south with the points, it felt like a high-quality US cop show. There was tension from opening to denouement, even if the eventual winners within the allotted time were not unexpected.
Related: Sané and Lewandowski seal Klassiker victory for Bayern over Dortmund
Related: Relentless Bayern Munich have mastered art of football in lockdown | Barney Ronay
Bayer Leverkusen 4-3 Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg 2-1 Hoffenheim, Dortmund 2-3 Bayern, Augsburg 0-3 Hertha Berlin, Mainz 2-2 Schalke, Leipzig 3-0 Freiburg, Stuttgart 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Union Berlin 5-0 Arminia Bielefeld, Werder Bremen 1-1 Cologne
Scorpion kick!
Valentino Lazaro with a FIFA Puskás Award contender!
Sensational improvisation! pic.twitter.com/mJnHQ1bqNH