In the football arena of FC Bayern Munich, the photographers jostled on the sidelines – and you could already see the hype that arose around the new competitor in the first weeks of the Bundesliga season from where they were shooting that evening Main actors were waiting. They were standing in the spot where they expected Thomas Tuchel, the home team’s coach, because they particularly wanted to photograph his counterpart: the man who is supposed to end Bayern’s long-term rule.
With dark blue trousers, a dark blue sweater and white shoes, the Spaniard Xabi Alonso then walked into the arena where he used to play for Munich and helped establish their sporting dominance. Back then, FC Bayern fans could always expect great things from the player Alonso. Bayer Leverkusen fans now expect the greatest possible from coach Alsonso: he should beat the German champions not just in one game, but in a season. And more than 90 minutes later you had to say: Yes, that could work.
On Friday evening, Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 in the German champions’ arena with a penalty goal in added time – and not only maintained their lead in the table, but also provided what was probably an even more important insight: that there was the hype surrounding it There is a good reason why this team and this coach came into being.
“It’s a great Friday evening”
“It was intense for us on the pitch. High level for the spectators, it’s a great Friday evening,” said Leverkusen’s Jonas Hofmann on the streaming service DAZN. “Both teams met their expectations.” Thomas Müller saw it similarly. “2-2 is deserved by the result, we should have scored before half-time, but we were also lucky,” said the Bayern international.
There has been discussion this week about the crisis in German football, but this evening you could see how spectacular German football can be. You have probably never seen this Munich team play as powerfully, as dynamically as in the first ten to twenty minutes under coach Thomas Tuchel. They robbed the Leverkusen players of space – and then usually the ball too.
In the third minute, the Austrian Konrad Laimer, whom Tuchel positioned as a right-back, shot from a promising spot into the arms of Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký. In the seventh minute the time had come: When Joshua Kimmich crossed a corner into the penalty area, the Leverkusen defender Edmond Tapsoba extended it so badly with his head that Harry Kane only had to push it into the goal with his head. You could feel Bayern’s aura in these minutes.
But then there was a break in the Bayern game. Suddenly Leverkusen kept storming with the ball into Munich’s half of the game. And when Thomas Müller fouled close to the penalty area, Bayer Leverkusen had a good opportunity that they didn’t miss: Spanish full-back Alejandro Grimaldo shot the free kick into the corner of the goal (24′). A spectacular goal that represented the beauty and fun of the game that this team exuded in the first three games.
Exequiel Palacios converted the penalty late on to make it 2-2 for Leverkusen.
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Image: EPA
After the 1-1 draw, Bayern pushed again, but were vulnerable to counterattacks. In the 31st minute, striker Victor Boniface dribbled into the penalty area, where he was stopped by Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich. In the 32nd minute, Boniface shot the ball over the goal. And in the 33rd minute he finally shot the ball into the goal, but the moment Florian Wirtz played it, he was offside.
In the final ten minutes of the first half it was FC Bayern who pressed again. First Müller failed with a diving header (35′), then Sané with a shot that Hrádecký deflected around the post with his fingertips (43′) and shortly afterwards Gnabry stormed into the penalty area, but he couldn’t get the ball past the goalkeeper either (45.). Breathe!
In the second half, this top game continued to be fast and spectacular – and that only got worse in the final phase. It started when Florian Wirtz shot the ball onto the post in the 78th minute. This continued with substitute Bayern striker Mathys Tel passing the ball through the penalty area in the 86th minute, where Leon Goretzka slammed it into the goal – making it 2-1.
And for a moment this week had this nice punchline: that the man who surprisingly had not been called up for the national team decided the top game in the Bundesliga. But then the drama climaxed in stoppage time when Alphonso Davies, FC Bayern’s full-back, fouled Jonas Hofmann in the penalty area. The VAR intervened: a penalty, which substitute Exequiel Palacios took advantage of.
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