Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 5:23 PM• Tom Rofekamp

Bayern Munich made no mistake in the Bundesliga on Saturday. The Record Master fell behind against FC Augsburg, but then turned it around completely: 5-3. With that, Julian Nagelsmann’s team is again alone in the lead in Germany; Borussia Dortmund can level again in points later in the afternoon. For Matthijs de Ligt there was a small blemish on the victory: he caused a penalty kick.

Nagelsmann decided to change his team after the midweek Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain. For example, Sadio Mané made his entrance to the base for the first time since November and Leroy Sané, Serge Gnabry and João Cancelo were also allowed to start. Matthijs de Ligt was the only Dutchman to kick off; Daley Blind and Ryan Gravenberch, like Noussair Mazraoui, started on the bench. Jeffey Gouweleeuw started at Augsburg.

The whistle had barely sounded when the ball was already in the net. Not Augsburg, but Bayern heard him: Mërgim Berisha finished well after canceling Cancelo. Augsburg was able to enjoy the lead for fifteen minutes before Bayern turned things around. First, Cancelo corrected his mistake by blasting in the 1-1 from a difficult angle; Benjamin Pavard worked the 2-1 against the ropes in the aftermath of a free kick.

It was Pavard’s game. The Frenchman, who scored one league goal before Sunday, completed his second of the afternoon after a deflected header from De Ligt: 3-1. This broke Augsburg’s resistance. Gouweleeuw and associates were unable to contribute anything and saw Sané widen the margin to three with a bit of luck. Mané thought he would liven up his return to the base shortly after the break with the fifth, but saw referee Florian Badstubner put a line through his goal.

Badstubner also grabbed his whistle at a minor offense by De Ligt minutes later. Although nothing seemed to be wrong, the ball hit the spot, from which Berisha scored his second of the afternoon: 4-2. After Alphonso Davies brought the margin back to three fifteen minutes before the end, it was time for Gravenberch and Mazraoui. They saw Blind come in the last ten minutes and make Irvin Cardona 5-3.

No. Team m W G v +/- Pnt
1 Bayern Munich 24 15 7 2 46 52
2 Borussia Dortmund 23 16 1 6 19 49
3 RB Leipzig 24 13 6 5 20 45
4 1. FC Union Berlin 23 13 5 5 8 44
5 SC Freiburg 23 12 6 5 3 42
6 Eintracht Frankfurt 24 11 7 6 12 40
7 FSV Mainz 05 24 10 6 8 4 36
8 VfL Wolfsburg 23 9 7 7 11 34
9 Bayer Leverkusen 23 9 4 10 3 31
10 Borussia Monchengladbach 24 8 6 10 -4 30
11 Werder Bremen 23 9 3 11 -8 30
12 1. FC Cologne 24 6 9 9 -6 27
13 FC Augsburg 24 8 3 13 -13 27
14 VfL Bochum 24 7 1 16 -30 22
15 Hertha BSC 24 5 6 13 -16 21
16 VfB Stuttgart 24 4 8 12 -12 20
17 TSG Hoffenheim 23 5 4 14 -13 19
18 Schalke 04 23 4 7 12 -24 19