Bundesliga title pretenders were battered by the champions but stole a draw and know now how much they must improve
It had promised so much, and yet had been such hard going. “It was,” said Leipzig’s coach, Julian Nagelsmann, “like a run in the forest without much football” for his team. For all the pre-match excitement that they might be facing Bayern Munich at the right time, catching them before they were settled into their season stride, much of this felt ominously familiar for those hoping for a meaningful Bundesliga title race again. The leaders versus the champions looked, for a large chunk of early Saturday evening, like the also-rans against the lords of the manor.
This was no evening for anybody to dust down their cliches about Bayern-Dusel, though – the luck of the perennial champions. Any flecks of fortune had been left back at Säbener Strasse, as was clear from the moment when David Alaba pulled a hamstring in the warm-up, leaving Niko Kovac to an impromptu rejig of his XI. Jérôme Boateng came in, with Lucas Hernández being pushed out to left-back. It proved a significant adjustment.
Related: 'A star is born': Ansu Fati announces himself and changes his world | Sid Lowe
That didn't take long!
Bayern on the counterattack and Robert Lewandowski strikes inside the opening three minutes! pic.twitter.com/NEs471VgCH
Related: After 552 days, Juventus finally knocked off their Serie A perch | Nicky Bandini
∙ Jadon Sancho has played four Bundesliga matches this season.
∙ Jadon Sancho already has five Bundesliga assists this season.
Two more today helped Dortmund to a 4-0 victory ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/G5dPPwDAuI
Related: Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 top scorers 2019-20
Paderborn 1-5 Schalke, Hoffenheim 0-3 Freiburg, RB Leipzig 1-1 Bayern, Augsburg 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt, Köln 0-1 Mönchengladbach, Dortmund 4-0 Leverkusen, Mainz 2-1 Hertha Berlin, Union Berlin 1-2 Werder Bremen, Fortuna Dusseldorf 1-1 Wolfsburg
Continue reading...