- Bayern Munich’s Tuchel has had the best possible start to his managerial career with a victory over Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.
- Goals from Muller and Coman secured the win for the Bundesliga champions.
Bayern Munich manager, Thomas Tuchel, has had the best possible start to his managerial career with a 4-2 victory over Bundesliga championship rivals Borussia Dortmund in the Der Klassiker
In a commanding first-half performance, the defending champions blitzed their fiercest rivals, establishing a 3-0 lead after just 23 minutes to effectively put the game to bed.
The visitors had a terrible game, to begin with, thanks to a terrible blunder by Gregor Kobel that led to the first goal. They never looked like turning things around as they were completely destroyed by Bayern’s brilliance and a combination of their own errors.
Thomas Muller, who never falters, assisted himself, and Kingsley Coman added a fourth shortly after the break as Emre Can’s penalty in the 72nd minute and Donyell Malen’s late second serving as a consolation.
Despite having lost just twice in all competitions since September, the hosts had unexpectedly fired Julian Nagelsmann during the international break. They swiftly appointed former Dortmund manager Tuchel as his replacement.
Bayern take an early lead
Kobel’s error gave Bayern the lead early on. |PHOTO: CBS|
The Tuchel era began quickly against his former team as well, though the opening goal occurred in peculiar circumstances when Kobel oddly failed to make a clearance, allowing Dayot Upamecano to convert an aimless and otherwise harmless long pass forward from inside his own half.
While Dortmund will feel that each goal was as much the result of their own bad defence as it was a fine play from the hosts, it started a terrible collapse that saw Bayern pull the game away from their closest championship opponents with three goals in 10 minutes.
Both opportunities came to Muller, who first used his thigh to push Matthijs de Ligt’s close-range downward header over the goal line before being in the perfect spot at the perfect moment to score again after Leroy Sane’s shot was fumbled by Kubel.
Edin Terzic’s team managed to halt the tide and prevent any further damage before halftime, although Bayern always appeared dangerous when they moved forward.
The second half
But, it took only five minutes into the second half for their goal to be broken once more, with Coman sliding home to finish off a defence-splitting cross from Sane inside the box.
Even Tuchel’s choice to rest several players with the victory already in hand showed little evidence of Bayern letting up, with players like Serge Gnabry, Sadio Mane, Jamal Musiala, and Joao Cancelo coming off the bench to highlight the depth of the home team.
Yet just three minutes after coming on, Gnabry tripped Jude Bellingham in the area, giving Can the opportunity to score from the spot and giving Dortmund their first chance to rescue a scrap of pride.
Tuchel recorded his first win as a Bayern coach. |PHOTO: CBS|
In the waning seconds of regular time, one of Dortmund’s two halftime substitutions, Malen, scored another goal by sending a bobbling shot into the bottom corner.
But despite the final score’s two-goal disparity, Bayern Munich was much superior, and this triumph was just the latest in a string of victories over Germany’s second-ranked team.
The champions have now won nine times in a row at the Allianz Arena and are undefeated in each of the previous 10 Der Klassiker meetings.
What next?
The loss is Dortmund’s first in the Bundesliga since before the international break, and they must now work to recover swiftly before a crucial week that includes games against Union Berlin and RB Leipzig in the league and DFB-Pokal, respectively.
Bayern is also involved in the cup action this week; on Tuesday, they will host Freiburg before travelling to face them in the league four days later.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login