Matchday 16 - Victory in Wolfsburg: FC Bayern wins with its last ounce of strength
Thomas Tuchel clenched both hands into fists, his professionals were exhausted and celebrated by their fans. FC Bayern Munich dragged themselves into the winter break with their last ounce of strength. The German champions won 2:1 (2:1) at VfL Wolfsburg, even without eight sick or injured professionals, and thus kept pace with league leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
"It was quite clear that we had to fight our way through today," said Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund on pay-TV channel Sky. "That was a very important three points and it feels really good."
Thanks to goals from Jamal Musiala (33rd minute) and Harry Kane (43rd), Bayern brought one of the most turbulent years in the club's history to a successful conclusion. However, Maximilian Arnold's 1-2 (45.+1) spoiled their hopes of a calm and relaxed second half. Wolfsburg pushed the visibly exhausted record champions further and further back.
When the Munich team last played in the Volkswagen Arena in February, the coach, the CEO and the sporting director all had different names. This alone illustrates what was going on at the German serial champions in 2023.
Squad extremely thinned out
The fact that the absence of several prominent names such as Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka (both ill), Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman (both injured) meant that coach Thomas Tuchel did not even manage to put together an 18-man matchday squad for the last appearance of the year also shows that Bayern urgently need to correct the omissions of the summer and strengthen their squad in January. It is difficult to win the championship and Champions League with such a thin squad.
The extent to which this shorthanded squad is stretched was clear to see in front of 28,917 spectators. Bayern made numerous mistakes and lapses in concentration right from the start, allowing the dogged Wolfsburg side to counter-attack quickly. The Swede Mattias Svanberg gave VfL an early lead in the 4th minute.
Musiala in the spotlight
Bayern were only really dominant between the 15th and 45th minute. The protagonists: international Musiala, who played his 100th Bundesliga game at the age of 20 and scored with his head to make it 1-0. Goalscorer Kane, who scored his 21st goal of the season with a spectacular long-range strike and is now just one goal short of equaling the first-round record of former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski (22). And Bayern legend Thomas Müller, who set up both goals.
The 34-year-old had only extended his contract the day before and has only briefly considered leaving his favorite club once in recent years: That was when current Wolfsburg head coach Niko Kovac coached Munich from 2019 to 2020.
As limited as VfL is in terms of play under Kovac, his teams are always fit and strong. And that put Bayern under pressure after the break. Wolfsburg became bolder, Bayern weaker. In the 58th minute, national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer cleared with a foot save after a solo run by the Brazilian Rogerio. However, the hosts were too harmless in the final third to punish Munich's drop in performance. Bayern's last line-up saved the lead.
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Source: www.stern.de
