Bayern Munich 5-0 Fortuna Dusseldorf: Champions dominate

The expectation coming into the resumption of the German Bundesliga was that Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund would tussle it out for the title between now and the end of the season. While fans and pundits were well within their rights to assume that would be the case, Bayern have reiterated their status as the clear favourites to win the title once again after storming to a 5-0 win over Fortuna Dusseldorf this weekend.

Forcing the issue

Any hope that Dusseldorf fans had regarding their ability to frustrate Bayern was extinguished pretty quickly and efficiently, with the reigning champions walking all over them from the word go. It was a Mathias Jorgensen own goal that managed to open the scoring for them, with Benjamin Pavard and Robert Lewandowski making it 3-0 before the half time whistle had even blown.

Dortmund fans who had been hoping that their rivals would slip up were in for a rude awakening, and after the break, Bayern didn’t take their foot off of the gas. Lewandowski scored his second goal of the game to equal his most prolific season ever, and with five league games still left to play, he’ll almost certainly be adding to that total sooner rather than later.

One step closer

The punishing performance was completed when Alphonso Davies made it five, confirming what many fans already knew: it’s going to take one hell of an effort to stop this Bayern team from making it eight straight titles, with many of the club’s fans now turning their attention towards the potential restart of the UEFA Champions League.

Still, while it may seem fairly positive for Bayern right now, it’s not like they don’t have difficult showdowns ahead of them. They are set to travel to take on Bayer Leverkusen next weekend, and then following that, they’ll be hosting Borussia Monchengladbach – with both teams proving in the past that they can mix it up with the big boys. Fortuna Dusseldorf, on the other hand, will now regroup and prepare for back to back home games against Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund.

Match Report

Bayern Munich: Neuer (7), Davies (9), Hernandez (7), Alaba (7), Pavard (8.5), Goretzka (7.5), Kimmich (8), Gnabry (8), Muller (7.5), Coman (7.5), Lewandowski (9.5), Odriozola (6.5), Zirkzee (6), Meier (6), Cuisance (6.5), Perisic (6)

Fortuna Dusseldorf: Kastenmeier (6), Zimmermann (6), Jorgensen (5), Hoffmann (6.5), Gießelmann (5.5), Bodzek (6.5), Skrzybski (6), Morales (5.5), Stöger (5.5), Thommy (6), Karaman (6), Berisha (6), Sobottka (6), Zimmer (6), Pledl (6), Suttner (6)

Referee: Robert Hartmann

Goals: Jorgensen OG, Pavard, Lewandowski x2, Davies

Yellow Cards: Suttner, Karaman

Red Cards: N/A