Top talent Giovanni Reyna guides Dortmund to impressive victory

Bayern Munich back on Earth after unprecedented defeat

Sunday, September 27, 2020 at

Bayern Munich suffered an extremely surprising defeat on Sunday afternoon. Der Rekordmeister, where Joshua Zirkzee had a starting place, went down on a visit to Hoffenheim 4-1. It means the first defeat for der Rekordmeister since December 7, 2019, when Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 was too strong for the holder of the Champions League.

Bayern won the European Supercup midweek, beating Sevilla 2-1 after extra time. Due to the wear and tear in Budapest, trainer Hansi Flick was forced to make three changes to his team. Lucas Hernández, Leon Goretzka and Robert Lewandowski stayed out of the starting eleven, leaving Alphonso Davies, Corentin Tolisso and Zirkzee at the kick-off. It soon became clear that Bayern still had the midweek game in its legs, as Hoffenheim took the lead after fifteen minutes.

A corner by Dennis Geiger was promoted to goal by Ermin Bicakcic with the head. At the far post Davies tried to prevent another goal, but in the end the ball went over the goal line via the Canadian fullback. Eight minutes later it was again hit for Hoffenheim. Benjamin Pavard unintentionally brought in Munas Dabbur. The Israeli striker stayed very cool face to face with Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and worked the leather with a subtle marker in the goal.

An interesting match then arose, with opportunities back and forth. Leroy Sané delivered a dangerous header, while Neuer prevented a goal from Andrej Kramaric. Still, Bayern managed to bring the tension back into the game before half time. Joshua Kimmich received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and nicely curled the ball into the top right corner behind Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. Bayern kept looking for the equalizer in the first phase of the second half, while Hoffenheim on the other hand was also dangerous.

With an hour on the clock, Flick decided to take Zirkzee to the side for Lewandowski. However, with the Polish striker within the lines, Hoffenheim managed to further increase the score. Kramaric received the ball from Ihlas Bebou with fifteen minutes left on the clock and was then given the space and time to check and hit. Despite a final offensive, Bayern was unable to bring the tension back into the game and in injury time the score was increased to 4-1. Neuer floored Bebou, after which Kramaric determined the extremely surprising final score from eleven meters.