RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich played a thrilling match at the Red Bull Arena on Saturday afternoon. The home side were 2-0 up by halftime, courtesy of Lois Openda (20′) and Castello Lukeba (26′), but Harry Kane struck from the spot for the Bavarians (57′) after Benjamin Henrichs was judged to have raised his elbow to block a Leroy Sane free-kick, and Sane himself finished off a perfectly executed counterattack (70′) to rescue a point for his team.
Leipzig could’ve won it in the first half
It may be a worn-out expression in football, but “a game of two halves” is more than suitable to help describe this contest.
Both Leipzig and Bayern have tremendous quality in their ranks, and the battle between them was always going to be exciting. It was Leipzig who dominated the first 45 minutes, not so much through possession as through creating clear-cut chances.
It was Bayern, however, who threatened first as Kane released the run of Jamal Musiala in behind the Leipzig defence in the third minute, but the 20-year-old attacking midfielder was beaten by Janis Blaswich in the Leipzig goal on that occasion.
But apart from that, Bayern’s attacks mostly seemed unimaginative and tame, and after one such feeble attempt at creating something upfront in the 12th minute, the perseverance of Xavi Simons caught them at unawares and a subsequent mistake by Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich gave Emile Forsberg an opportunity to shoot at the gaping net from 50 yards. Luckily for the defending champions, the shot trickled off target.
There was no such luck for Bayern in the 20th minute. Xaver Schlager picked out a fabulous defence-splitting pass in behind for Openda to chase, and with a bit of luck, the Leipzig attacker got the better of both Kim Min-jae and Ulreich to send his team ahead.
Six minutes later, it got worse for Ulreich and Bayern as the stand-in goalkeeper made another blunder, this time a costly one. David Raum floated a corner deep into the six-yard box, an area where the goalkeeper really should be in control of things in those situations. Ulreich came for it but missed, allowing Openda to head back across towards Lukeba, who found it easy to slam into the net from very close range.
With three minutes to go in the first half, Leipzig had another situation where they came very close to adding a third, to potentially kill the contest off already. It was a situation very similar to the opening goal, with Openda again making a run and receiving a pass in behind. But as he moved to go around the onrushing Ulreich, the Bayern goalkeeper seemed to have made contact with him and just as it looked Leipzig might be getting a penalty, the linesman raised his flag for offside. The situation was checked by the VAR, of course, but there was no change to the decision and Bayern breathed a sigh of relief.
Bayern strike back after the break
Bayern, of course, would not have won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles so far if they allowed a two-goal deficit at halftime to keep them down. Even before the break, Sane gave a little glimps of what was to come as he drifted past Raum and Forsberg, played a one-two with Konrad Laimer and let one fly from just inside the box, narrowly missing the far top corner.
On the stroke of 54 minutes, Sane took a free-kick which looked like it might be curling into the top corner, before it struck the wall and bounced out for a corner. However, referee Marco Fritz got a call from the VAR room and went to check what had happened on the pitch-side monitor. The footage showed quite clearly that the ball had hit Henrichs in the elbow, which the Leipzig defender had raised in an unnatural position to make himself bigger. There was no doubt in Fritz’s mind as he came back, blew the whistle and pointed to the spot.
Blaswich managed to read Kane’s intention and dove the right way, but the shot by the England captain was too strong and too accurate, and the former Tottenham Hotspur star scored his ninth goal in his eighth appearance for Bayern in all competitions.
Bayern pushed hard from that point on to find an equalizer. It was Raphael Guerreiro who had a go first, but his shot from the edge of the box missed the target maybe by a yard.
And in the end, the equalizer came in a rather unlikely manner. It was Leipzig who had momentarily gone on the offensive and earned a corner in the 70th minute. The cross was cleared by Kane and Mohamed Simakan failed to keep the ball for Leipzig, robbed of it by Musiala. The youngster charged forward with all speed and carried the ball into the opposition half, before releasing Sane on the run. Sane was too quick for his markers and showed admirable composure as he slotted past Blaswich to set what would eventually be the final score.
Both teams went for a winner late on. Leipzig substitutes Fabio Carvalho and Benjamin Sesko combined nicely in the first minute of stoppage time, but the Slovenian striker failed to get on the end of a cross by the Liverpool loanee inside the six yards. And at the very end, Bayern came close as Kane whipped a fine cross towards Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting on the far post, but all the substitute striker could do was to head tamely straight into Blaswich’s arms.
Ulreich not first-choice material
Ever since his arrival at the club from Stuttgart in 2015, Ulreich has been an understudy to Manuel Neuer, apart from the 2020/21 season which he spent on loan at Hamburger SV. When Neuer broke his leg halfway through last season, the club opted to sign Yann Sommer for the rest of the campaign, rather than put their faith in Ulreich, and this game provided a glimpse of their possible reason for it.
Ulreich simply doesn’t seem good enough. Every goalkeeper will make a mistake every now and then, but making two heavy blunders in one game, even if one didn’t result in a goal, is not something that’s easily forgiven at a top club. All in all, the Bavarians are likely ticking off the days until Neuer’s return to full fitness, even if he is 37 and coming back from a leg fracture.
Finally an interesting Bundesliga season?
Bayern won the Bundesliga title 11 times in a row, and only Borussia Dortmund, the last rival to have robbed them of it back 2012, have shown true resilience and desire to do so again. Last season, the title was settled between them on goal-difference.
Now, however, there seems to be at least five teams that could be in that race come the spring of 2024. Xabi Alonso has built a very strong Bayer Leverkusen side who currently lead the way with 16 points. Stuttgart are doing surprisingly well, sitting second on 15, ahead of Bayern and Dortmund (both 14), and Leipzig on 13.
The neutral spectators will surely love this new development in German football, and hope the race remains as tight for as long as possible.
Challenges ahead
Having just given a tough game to one European heavyweight, Leipzig now need to prepare to welcome last season’s Champions League, Premier League and the FA Cup winners, Manchester City, on Wednesday. Their campaign in the competition started well enough as they beat Young Boys in Switzerland by 1-3, but the side managed by Pep Guardiola, a former Bayern head coach, obviously presents a different sort of challenge. It’s Bochum at home next weekend for Marco Rose’s team, before another international break sets in.
As for Bayern, they’ll probably have a somewhat easier job in midweek, traveling to Copenhagen on Tuesday, and then it’s Freiburg at the Allianz Arena.
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