Borussia Dortmund 2-3 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich won the first Der Klassiker of the season in a fierce clash at the Signal Iduna Park, and the victory sends them back to the summit of the table.
The battle of the top two clubs in the Bundesliga was always going to be a humdinger and at the end of a breathless first half, Bayern’s David Alaba equalised after Marco Reus had given die Schwarzgelben a 45th minute lead. The second half was more exciting if anything, as Robert Lewandowski’s header set Bayern on course to a famous victory. Leroy Sane added a third before Erling Braut Haaland scored a consolation for BVB.
Among the earlier Bundesliga 2020 results Julian Nagelsmann’s Red Bull Leipzig beat Freiburg to temporarily take top spot in the league table, until Bayern’s Klassiker master class restored order.
Highlights of the game
In a high tempo start to the game Bayern came out of the blocks at lightning speed and came close to opening the scoring in the very first minute. Serge Gnabry turned Mats Hummels inside out, but before he could get his shot away Lewandowski nipped in and smashed the ball into the side netting. The Pole has been in devastating form this season, scoring ten goals already in the league, including a hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt but he should have left that one for Gnabry to slot home.
Then, at the other end of the pitch, Gio Reyna collected a diagonal pass and was just onside before he pulled the ball back for Erling Braut Haaland, but Alaba was just on hand to clear the danger. Dortmund keeper Roman Burki made the first save of the night when Leon Goretzka met a cross from Jerome Boateng and he had to move smartly to keep it out of the top corner. There was little he could do when Lewandowski collected a pass from Gnabry and hammered the ball home, but whereas Burki couldn’t keep the scores level, VAR could, ruling out the goal for offside, but it looked mighty close.
Joshua Kimmich put in an awful challenge on Haaland, and it didn’t turn out well for the Bayern midfielder who picked up a yellow card while injuring himself. He needed the physio’s help to limp off the pitch as he was replaced by Corentin Tolisso.
Kingsley Coman met a cross from Thomas Muller and tried a speculative header from 12 yards but it was straight at Burki. Then, just as it looked like the teams would go in at 0-0, BVB scored the opener on 45 minutes. Jadon Sancho had been quiet throughout the first half but he came to life with a brilliant ball to Raphael Guerreiro who pulled it back for Marco Reus to fire home.
The pre-match Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich betting odds had die Bayern as odds on favourites to win this Klassiker, and a goal on the stroke of half time seemed to have changed that. But, amazingly, there was still time for an equaliser. And it was a clever piece of play after Bayern won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. Gnabry pushed the ball sideways to Lewandowski who passed it on to Alaba and his shot took a wicked deflection off Hummels and flew past the stranded Burki and into the net.
Now if that was a blow to the hosts before the break, they copped for another minutes after, and it was that man Lewandowski making it 1-2 with a glancing header which deceived Burki. And 1-2 almost became 1-3 minutes later when Coman smashed a 25 yard effort onto the foot of the post.
Reyna had a superb chance to draw level but he gave Manuel Neuer too much time and the Bayern keeper saved at his far post. And Reus had a great opportunity to score his second when his first touch took him past Boateng but with the whole goal to shoot at, he fired straight at Neuer. Then it was Thorgan Hazard’s turn to test to Bayern keeper but again, he was equal to the Belgian’s volley.
Just as Dortmund looked like equalising, Bayern doubled their lead when Leroy Sane beat Hummels before hammering the ball past Burki to make it 1-3. But with the match seemingly over Haaland pulled a goal back, beating Neuer in a one on one duel. There was still time for Lewandoswki to have another goal ruled out by VAR as Bayern held on to return to the top of the league.
Key statistics
Bayern have now won seven of the last eight league Klassikers, scoring 26 goals and conceding seven while Lewandowski’s goal was his 22nd for Bayern in der Klassiker.
The Pole’s header was his 11th goal of the season while Haaland notched his sixth.
BVB fought hard but they went down to their first defeat in six home matches.
What’s next?
There’s plenty more action for SBOTOP Bundesliga fans to look forward to next week when die Schwarzgelben head to the capital to take on Hertha Berlin. After a sticky run of four defeats; a draw and then today’s 0-3 victory away to FC Augsburg has lifted the Berliners up to 12th. The summer loan of Arsenal’s 21 year old defensive midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has improved Hertha’s starting 11 and he’ll be keen to impress against the Bundesliga’s finest.
Meanwhile Bayern are at home to Werder Bremen who are currently in eighth place having, remarkably, drawn their last four games all by a 1-1 score line.
Now if Florian Kohfeldt’s team can repeat that score at the Allianz Arena in Munich it will be a shock!
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