After a shock 3-3 draw in Norway against Viking on Tuesday night, Bayern Munich would be looking to avenge that performance against an RB Leipzig side that has been very hit-and-miss under head coach Martin Demichelis.
Heading into the game, Bayern held a 100% record at the Allianz Arena, while Leipzig had yet to win a game away from home, and that trend looked like it would continue within the first 15 minutes of the game when Luis Diaz opened the scoring when he was played through by Joshua Kimmich, and rifled it past Maarten Vandevoordt.
Diaz would then turn provider when he set up Aleksander Pavlovic, who was able to make it 2-0, and with Leipzig’s lack of ability to actually create anything in the first half, you would assume it would be game over already.
Michael Olise would then get involved minutes later when Harry Kane threaded a pass into the path of the Frenchman, whose outside-of-the-box effort left Vandevoordt stationary as Bayern made it 3-0.
Just after the break, Diaz would get his second of the game, following another assist from Kane, then the Englishman would also get involved with the scoring six minutes later to make it 5-0. The Colombian would then complete his hat-trick in the 69th minute when, from a corner, Diaz received the ball from Olise and his curling effort would be out of the reach of Leipzig’s Belgian number one.
Right at the end of the game, substitute Andrija Maksimovic would make it 6-1, his first-ever goal for Leipzig.
For Vincent Kompany’s side, that was the perfect response following their draw with Viking in midweek as well as the draw against Augsburg last weekend. They were ruthless in attack, especially after last week things just didn’t go their way on the attacking front, as well as effective in defence, limiting Leipzig to any meaningful chances.
This should give Bayern more confidence as they host Arsenal in the Champions League in midweek.
The defeat for Leipzig once again raises questions about Martin Demichelis. The Argentine hasn’t impressed since replacing Ole Werner as head coach, and while Werner also lost 6-0 to Bayern, that was in the opening game of the season; an improvement was seen immediately, whereas Leipzig oscillates between scoring a lot (Hamburg, Frankfurt) and then losing convincingly (Como, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern), and at times you can make the argument that Demichelis has been saved by the quality in the Leipzig team, and it isn’t exactly himself finding the solutions.
So far, the gamble to sack Werner and replace him with Demichelis looks like a poor decision.
Bayern Munich:
Jonas Urbig (5), Konrad Laimer (6), Dayot Upamecano (6), Kim Min-Jae (6), Nathanial Brown (6), Joshua Kimmich (6), Aleksander Pavlovic (6), Michael Olise (7), Ismael Saibari (6), Luis Diaz (8), Harry Kane (8)
Others: Tom Bischof (5), Serge Gnabry (5), Josip Stanisic (5), Lennart Karl (5), Sacha Boey (5)
RB Leipzig:
Maarten Vandevoordt (6), Lukas Klostermann (3), Castello Lukeba (4), Willi Orban (4), David Raum (4), Neil El-Aynaoui (4), Ezechiel Banzuzi (4), Brajan Gruda (5), Rocco Reitz (3), Antonio Nusa (4), Christopher Nkunku (4)
Others: Nicolas Seiwald (5), Tidiam Gomis (5), Romulo (5), Benjamin Henrichs (5), Andrija Maksimovic (5)
GGFN Man of the Match: Luis Diaz (8)
Diaz has struggled with consistency in front of goal in the early stages of the season, but if there were any doubts about the Colombian’s finishing ability, they were put to bed tonight thanks to the variety in the three goals he scored. The hat-trick was also the first of Diaz’s professional career.
An alternative can also be Kane. On the goal front, it has been a slow start to the season for the Englishman, but in his 60-minute cameo in this game, he very much left his mark with two assists and a goal before being replaced by Lennart Karl. While Kane has allowed the likes of Niclas Füllkrug and Patrik Schick to surpass him in the goal-scoring charts, he has improved his game even more when it comes to being a provider for his teammates.
GGFN | Jack Meenan