Before the top game in the Bundesliga against Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern is really getting going again: Bayern have an easy time against an overwhelmed Viktoria Pilsen in the Champions League and are warming up for the weekend with dream goals. They also set a record.
Attention, Dortmund - the Gala Bayern are coming! Bayern Munich has finally shot itself out of the crisis against the next construction helper and warmed up for the classic. The Munich team, suddenly mercilessly efficient again, with double packer Leroy Sané, didn't give sparring partner Viktoria Pilsen the slightest chance in the 5-0 (3-0) win in the Champions League. The clear signal to Borussia: We are ready for the smash on Saturday!
"It was a difficult few weeks. Now we're back on the road to victory," said the reinvigorated Sadio Mané, who scored Munich's third goal, at DAZN. The game against Dortmund was "a big, big game that we obviously want to win," explained the star addition. Sané (7th/50th), Serge Gnabry (13th) and Mané (21st) with his first goal in the premier class for the German record champions made everything clear early on. Substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (59th) also scored for Bayern, who are confidently heading for the round of 16 with nine points. But it wasn't quite enough for the highest Champions League victory (7-0 each against Basel 2012 and Donetsk 2015).
However, the record of now 31 group games without defeat was never threatened against the oddly disembodied Czech champions. Instead, Bayern greedily pushed into the many gaps that arose and showed great hunger in the final - it was a class difference.
Nagelsmann admitted before the game at DAZN that the classic played an important role in his starting eleven thoughts. "If I rotate too much, the disadvantage is that too many players play in a different position than against Dortmund. It's about keeping the rhythm."
And so he made "only" four changes after the chest release against Leverkusen. New signing Ryan Gravenberch was only allowed to start for the second time as a replacement for Joshua Kimmich, who, like Thomas Müller, had Corona. "He didn't play enough for his abilities," Nagelsmann said of the Dutchman, who took his chance. As against Bayer (4-0), it was the duo of Jamal Musiala and Sané that provided the can opener. On the youngster's pass, the latter prevailed against half the Pilsen defense and slammed the ball into the goal corner. Sané achieved something that only Robert Lewandowski (2019 and 2021) had previously managed in the Bayern jersey: goals in each of the first three group games.
Magic foot Musiala also initiated the 2-0, which was prepared by Leon Goretzka, who had been rotated into the starting line-up. Then Mané proved that his goal against Leverkusen was really a liberation: After a throw-in, he lobbed the ball over himself and an opponent, tunnelled the next one and completed his dream solo to make it 3-0. The video evidence initially prevented Musiala from making it 4-0 because assistant Mané was just offside (36').
Sané's second goal was preceded by a dream pass from Mané, Goretzka made it 5-0. Nagelsmann used the second half to give other noble jokers time to play - and to spare some stars for BVB.
