Dank Leroy Sané, FC Bayern are the leaders at the league summit at Borussia Dortmund. With the 1-0 (0-0) against Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday in the Bundesliga, the Munich team pushed past BVB, who had temporarily taken first place with a 3-1 at VfL Wolfsburg.
Two days after the turbulent annual general meeting, the German champion took advantage of one of his numerous opportunities late with a fine flick from Sané (71st). A week after the 1: 2 in Augsburg, Munich turned away even more unrest with the late victory after excited days.
After a lot of corona fuss about Joshua Kimmich & Co., the annual general meeting with the hot topic Qatar caused a lot of explosiveness, the loss of the top of the table would have hit Bayern particularly hard a week before the Dortmund game. “You have to clearly separate the thoughts in your head,” said coach Julian Nagelsmann shortly before the kick-off at Sky, who once again took a position on aspects outside of his core business.
Well adjusted by Nagelsmann, only one team played forward in front of 12,000 spectators in the Allianz Arena, which was not even a quarter full due to the pandemic. The host around driver Thomas Müller, who drew level with Franz Beckenbauer with his 396th Bundesliga game for Munich, booked one chance after another. In the final phase it was finally possible to cheer.
Before the break, however, the Munich team did not succeed in overcoming the former 1860 goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in the Arminia goal and a joyful guest team. In his 200th competitive game for Bielefeld, the 29-year-old Ortega put in a strong performance. However, the offensive series around world footballer Robert Lewandowski, who is hoping to be honored with the Ballon d’Or on Monday, lacked precision and consistency in the power play. Not much was missing and the President Herbert Hainer, wrapped up warmly in the official gallery, could have cheered on an earlier tour after a lot of trouble at the annual general meeting. Müller (6/7/21), Sané (11th), Alphonso Davies (16/34), Kingsley Coman (21st) or Lewandowski (24/34) were given promising chances at the last moment decisively disturbed, or just failed at Ortega.
On the other side, Bielefeld sniffed the 1-0. Masaya Okugawa outwitted Lucas Hernández, but then put the ball too far and Bayern captain Manuel Neuer was there. However, the Japanese was also sidelined.
Immediately after the break, Sané missed the lead by a very thin margin when his ball rolled past Ortega, but also just wide of the goal (46th). Müller did not hit the ball correctly after Lewandowski’s headed pass (49th), as did Sané (57th). With the inclusion of Jamal Musiala, one of five returnees after corona infection or quarantine as a contact person, Nagelsmann increased his offensive strength further (56th). Ten minutes later, Musiala and Müller were involved in preparing for Sané’s goal. Coman later failed on the crossbar (77th), while Sané was congratulated on the bench as the match winner.
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