After his gala performance, Serge Gnabry received a series of congratulations and hugs. After a show of goals from their national soccer players around the outstanding Gnabry, FC Bayern is well on the way to going into the long World Cup break as number 1.
National coach Hansi Flick should have had a lot of fun with the 6: 1 (4: 1) Munich against Werder Bremen thanks to the promising tournament form of his top performers. In addition to triple goal scorer Gnabry (22nd/28th/82nd minute), Jamal Musiala (6th), Leon Goretzka (26th) and substitute Mathys Tel (84th) caused a lot of cheering from the 75,000 spectators in the last Bayern home game of the year .
“We had a result crisis, but believed in our strength. That’s why you can now say that we’ve been in a flow in the last few weeks,” said Goretzka on Sat1. Joshua Kimmich found the first half against Bremen “very spectacular. We played very purposefully and could have scored more goals”.
Mane has to get out early, Gnabry scores three times
On the other hand, the assembly line shooter Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s goal ended when the attacker failed with a penalty kick from Bremen’s goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka (18′). Anthony Jung (10th) scored the equalizer for the naively defending guests. The ninth competitive win in a row, with which the Munich team successfully defended their lead in the table, was never in danger. “We knew that if we defended so courageously from the front, there could be gaps,” said Bremen’s Leonardo Bittencourt. You have paid “a lot of money”, the plan had “gone a bit wrong”.
A week and a half before the start of the World Cup, Bayern star Sadio Mané had to be replaced after 20 minutes. It was unclear how badly Africa’s footballer of the year was injured. National player Leroy Sané came on for the Senegalese, who two days before Flick’s World Cup nomination gained important competition practice and, among other things, hit the post (54th). The injured Thomas Müller followed the performance of his teammates in a good mood from the stands.
Even without their top scorer Niclas Füllkrug, who was injured in the back, the guests didn’t hide and relied on early pressing – and were bitterly punished for this by the playful and ice-cold Bavarians. This also applies to the early lead for the favorite: After Jung lost the ball against Gnabry, the Munich team quickly countered into the opposing penalty area, where Mané initially missed, but Musiala used the rebound. The young star had already provided the important 1-0 lead against Hertha.
Bremen brave, but Bayern a different class
After Mané had missed a good chance to make it 2-0 (9th), Werder hit back with his first good attack: After outstanding preliminary work from the lively Mitchell Weiser, Jung made up for his mistake before the 0-1 and scored the equalizer with a direct acceptance. Bayern were just as unimpressed by this as by the missed penalty by Choupo-Moting or the injury-related substitution of Mane. On the contrary: The Munich team used the spaces that the offensive Bremen involuntarily gave them to score more goals before the break with two Gnabry and Goretzka.
The Bremen side missed Füllkrug with his power and presence as a passing station, his representative Oliver Burke remained largely pale. Marvin Ducksch wasn’t able to put himself in the limelight either, and after a fatal back pass from Bayern central defender Dayot Upamecano in his own penalty area, the Werder attacker missed the great chance to make it 2-4 just before half-time whistle.
In the second half, the Munich team took it much easier and saved a few strengths. They never lost control of the game, and the record champions continued to create chances.
