BERLIN (DPA) — in the fifth Bundesliga match this Season, Robert Lewandowski did not score any goals.
He didn’t have to when Bayern Munich outscored Hertha Berlin 4-1 on Sunday to restore their six-point lead in the Bundesliga.
The guests should have won even more, because the Bavarians had many missed opportunities. He also saw two goals rightly ruled out by VAR.
In the first half, Corentin Tolisso and Thomas Müller scored, while in the second, Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry rewarded Bayern’s dominance.
Substitute Jürgen Ekkelenkamp struck seconds after coming on for Hertha’s consolation goal, but the goal line did not reflect a match where the home team had four attempts on goal compared to the 30 guests.
“It was fun for 90 minutes,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich said. “We controlled the game.”
Lewandowski, who scored a goal in Bayern’s 5-0 win in August, remains at 23 goals after 20 League rounds.
Leipzig smack Wolfsburg 2-0 early on, stretching the visitors’ winless run to 11 games in all competitions.
Wolfsburg’s fall is good news for Hertha, who are now just three points clear of the relegation zone, one point above Wolfsburg.
It’s not good enough for the tried and tested Hertha Fans, who had made it seem like qualifying for the European Championships was just the beginning, after Lars Windhorst invested
Local media reported that about 80 Hertha fans crashed into the team’s training ground on Saturday to insult the players after the home cup defeat to city rival Union Berlin on Wednesday.
A DJ played Sunday before kickoff in a virtually empty stadium – due to Coronavirus measures, only 3,000 people were allowed to enter the 74,475-seat Olympic Stadium.
Unlike Hertha, Bayern had a whole week to prepare for the match, because there was no distraction from the DFB-Pokal. The Bavarian powerhouse were smacken 5-0 by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Preliminary Round.
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann was able to resort to an almost complete squad, only Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies were not found. Hertha counterpart Tayfun Korkut has given 17-year-old defender Linus Gechter his first Bundesliga start. The young player impressed with a goal line to deny Gnabry in the second half.
The Bavarians needed less than two minutes to score a goal, even though Tolisso’s goal was scored offside after VAR control.
Kingsley Coman crossed for Tolisso the opener in the 25th minute, ending an encouraging short spell from Hertha.
Bayern’s strike resumed and Müller struck well before the break when the Hertha defense could not find him for Kimmich’s free kick.
Vladimir Darida could have made the match exciting by not found Hertha’s best chance from close range after Maximilian Mittelstädt had skewed in from the left.
Bayern kept the game in hand and Korkut responded with three changes before the hour and brought in new addition Fredrik Andre Björkan for his Bundesliga debut.
The visitors continued to equalize until Hertha’s best player, goalkeeper Alexander Schwolov, gave Sané the third goal in the 75th minute as he tried to play the ball over the goal.
Gnabry got the fourth four minutes after, before Ekkelenkamp scored with his first touch, lifting the ball over Manuel Neuer after saving Bayern’s underworked ‘substitute goalkeeper Stevan Jovetic’s effort.
Sané thought he had finished the game with a flourish, but in the 89th a VAR check showed he briefly controlled the ball with his arm before letting it fly in off the long post.
In the end, it does not matter, because Bayern ruthlessly showed why a record 10th was expected. Borussia Dortmund had closed the gap to three points on Saturday with a somewhat fortunate win at Hoffenheim.
Tags: Bayern, Bundesliga, Hertha