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Bayern Munich thrashed Schalke 5-0 in a one-sided Bundesliga encounter at the Allianz Arena last night to move to the second place in the league table. It was Bayern’s fifth consecutive Bundesliga win, and they now have 39 points from 19 matches. They trail league leaders RB Leipzig by a solitary point.On the other hand, Schalke remained fifth with 33 points from 19 matches.
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Bayern dominated the match from the very beginning. Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller scored for the home side in the first half, while Leon Goretzka, Thiago Alcantara and Serge Gnabry found the back of the net in the second half.
We would now take a look at the 3 key observations from the game:
#1 Schalke had no answer to Bayern’s free-flowing passing football
As mentioned earlier, Bayern were the dominating team from the very beginning and pegged Schalke back to their own half with their free-flowing passing football. They had more than 60% ball possession in the first half, and Schalke could only make some insipid counter-attacking moves.
Bayern played a high line from the very beginning, and their centre-backs, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba, played diagonal balls to their full-backs, Alphonso Davies and Benjamin Pavard. Davies mainly stayed in the opposition half, and sent numerous crosses into the opposition penalty box. Davies primarily played as a wing-back, and did not have to fall back to his own half very often as Schalke made very few attacking moves.
Bayern’s forwards, Lewandowski, Muller and Ivan Perisic, also exchanged passes among themsleves to make things difficult for Schalke in their defensive third. Moreover, Schalke defended very deep and their midfielders could not exert their presence in the middle third. The Bayern players played quick passes almost at will, and had a stranglehold on the proceedings throughout the match.
#2 Thiago pulled the strings in the midfield for Bayern
Bayern started with a 4-3-3 formation with Joshua Kimmich as the defensive midfielder and Thiago and Goretzka playing as central midfielders. However, the formation often became 4-2-3-1, with Thiago falling back to take the ball from the centre-backs and start creating moves. He often controled the tempo of the game with his intelligent touches and astute passing.
Kimmich also made some vital challenges and interception in the midfield and one of his interceptions led to Thiago’s goal in the second half. Thiago played a brilliant one-two with Lewandowski to finish coolly from inside the penalty box. It was his 30th goal for Bayern.
Goretzka started the game on a sedate note, and did not do much in the opening 15-20 minutes of the match. However, he gradually started making intelligent forays into the opposition penalty box, and notched up a goal and an assist. He scored with a brilliant volley from a Kimmich corner. Goreztka now has three goals and four assists for Bayern this season.
#3 Muller and Pavard combined brilliantly down the right flank
As Davies primarily played as the wing-back, Bayern had no dearth of crosses coming in from the left flank. However, things took shape a bit differently down the right flank, as Muller and Pavard started complementing each other.
Pavard often moved inside to increase numbers in the middle third for Bayern Munich. He also won some balls in the midfield and operated through the inside-right channel at times. Muller, on the other hand, stayed wide initially, and played some vital crosses into the penalty box. One such cross led to the opening goal, as Goretzka headed the ball down for Lewandowski to score his 32nd goal of the season.
Perisic, who started as the left winger, was a bit off-colour in the first half, and could not combine as effectively with Davies. However, he switched flanks quite cleverly in the dying minutes of the first half, and delivered a cross from the right side of the pitch that led to Muller’s goal. It was the German forward’s 192nd goal for Bayern Munich.
