Bayern Munich extended their unbeaten run to start their Bundesliga season after overcoming a resilient first half performance from Borussia Mönchengladbach at Borussia-Park on Saturday afternoon.
Early red card forces Gladbach’s hand
Similar to their game against Eintracht Frankfurt, Luis Díaz almost opened the scoring inside the first minute but the Colombian – who is in fine form this season – pulled his shot wide of Mortiz Nicolas’ goal after 54 seconds. The visitors would then dominate the opening exchanges and would be given a helping hand in the 19th minute when Jens Castrop was shown a red card after intervention from the VAR for a challenge on Diaz. Initially shown a yellow card, the newly-capped South Korea international was given his marching orders after his tackle on Diaz’s shin was deemed reckless.
It took Bayern a whole 11 minutes before creating a clear cut chance which fell to Nicolas Jackson, but the on-loan Chelsea forward was unable to get a clean connection on Diaz’s cross. Harry Kane and Thomas Bischof, who started at left-back, then forced Nicolas into two saves a minute apart as the teams went into the break level. A stellar defensive performance from the Foals, Eugen Polanski was certainly the happier of the two coaches.
Bayern’s first half performance resulted in Vincent Kompany dealing his first card at the interval with the introduction of Konrad Laimer and Raphaël Guerreiro, which allowed Bischof to move into his favoured midfield position as Sacha Boey and Dayot Upamecano made way.
And they were rewarded almost immediately with Michael Olise placed an effort just wide three minutes after the restart, while Nicolas collected Díaz’s low cross. Germany’s record champions would then pile on the pressure and it was Olise again that came closest to opening the scoring. The Frenchman saw his effort cleared off the line and his follow-up effort denied by Nicolas.
But as Gladbach tired with Bayern dominating possession, the visitors turned up the intensity again. With Serge Gnabry replacing Jackson, Kane moved forward to play as Bayern’s No. 9, and he was rewarded almost immediately. Díaz was at the centre of everything Bayern did, finding Kane who made no mistake in putting the ball in the net, but the Englishman strayed marginally offside.
Bayern Munich in emphatic fashion
Two minutes later, Bayern finally broke Gladbach’s resistance. Gnabry and Laimer combined down Bayern’s left before finding Joshua Kimmich, who saw his first effort blocked but he made no mistake in firing the rebound into the bottom corner to open the floodgates for the visitors.
It took Kompany’s side just five minutes to double their lead and it was another substitute that was involved. After impressive play down the left hand side again, Olise played in Raphaël Guerreiro who showed composure to give his side a 2-0 lead.
Gladbach were then given an opportunity to get themselves back into the game after the VAR spotted a foul on Kevin Diks inside the area, which resulted in a yellow card for Bischof, but the preceding penalty kick was smashed against the crossbar by Kevin Stöger.
Rueing their missed opportunity, Lennart Karl then heaped more misery on the Bundesliga’s basement club with a superb curling effort from range, making him Bayern’s youngest goalscorer in Germany’s top-flight.
Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 Bayern Munich Player Ratings
Borussia Mönchengladbach: Mortiz Nicolas (7) – Jens Castrop (2), Nico Elvedi (4), Kevin Diks (4), Luca Netz (3) – Philipp Sander (3), Yannik Engelhardt (3) – Franck Honorat (4), Rocco Reitz (6), Kevin Stöger (5) – Haris Tabaković (3)
Others: Shuto Machino (5), Joe Scally (-), Lukas Ullrich (-), Giovanni Reyna (-), Oscar Fraulo (-)
Bayern Munich: Jonas Urbig (5) – Sacha Boey 5(), Dayot Upamecano (5), Kim Min-jae (6), Tom Bischof (6) – Joshua Kimmich (7), Leon Goretzka (6) – Michael Olise (7), Harry Kane (7), Luis Díaz (7) – Nicolas Jackson (5)
Others: Konrad Laimer (7), Raphaël Guerreiro (7), Serge Gnabry (-), Lennart Karl (-), Josip Stanišić (-)
GGFN Player of the Match: Moritz Nicolas (7)
Nicolas was going to be in for a busy afternoon but as 10-man Gladbach invited pressure sitting in a low-block, Bayern Munich were met with an immovable object. Despite conceding three goals, the 28-year-old made seven saves, notably to deny Kane and Bischof, as he exhibited a commanding performance despite Gladbach’s struggles.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
