Bayern MunichThe reigning Bundesliga champions seem set to retain their crown this season.Bayern Munich have made a phenomenal start to the year, and this past week was especially impressive. It began...
Bayern Munich
The reigning Bundesliga champions seem set to retain their crown this season.
Bayern Munich have made a phenomenal start to the year, and this past week was especially impressive. It began when they hosted newly-promoted Hamburg.
It was never even a contest, with the home side going up 2-0 after 9 minutes, and 4-0 before the half-hour mark. They eventually slowed down, only adding one more before full-time.
The Bavarians had a tougher test awaiting them midweek, but they passed it with flying colors. Opening their UEFA Champions League campaign at home to Club World Cup champions Chelsea, they made another strong start, with a Harry Kane penalty giving them a two-goal lead in the 27th.
However, they immediately conceded to Cole Palmer moments later, and the affair became tight again. In the end Kane secured a brace with 30 minutes to go, rifling home from close range to seal all three points.
Munich went on the road to take on Hoffenheim, and they kept the good times rolling. Their English striker opened the scoring before the end of the first half, and then he scored early on in the second half. He did one better than his previous game, completing his hat-trick from the penalty spot.
A Vladimir Coufal free-kick of all things made it 3-1, but Serge Gnabry restored the three-goal advantage before the final whistle. That made it seven wins out of seven to begin the year, an absolutely dominant start for Bayern.
While Munich is obviously thrilled with this, they also know there is plenty of work left to do. The pressure on them is unrelenting, and they won’t want to slip up anytime soon. That includes this weekend.
Team newsThis win streak looks even better considering their injury crisis, with Jonas Urbig, Kim Min-Jae, Alphonso Davies, Hiroki Ito, Josip Stanisic, and Jamal Musiala all unavailable for selection.
Predicted lineupsNeuer, Laimer, Tah, Upamecano, Guerreiro, Kimmich, Pavlovic, Olise, Gnabry, Luis Diaz, Kane
Werder Bremen
It was a bad day at the office for Werder Bremen last weekend.
At home to SC Freiburg, the contest got off to an ugly start. They gave up a strange penalty at the half-hour mark, with the ball bouncing off the arm of Cameron Puertas. Even though Mio Backhaus guessed the right away, he couldn’t stop the ball from flying into the top corner.
The away side made it two 10 minutes later through Chukwubuike Adamu, who capitalized on some bad defending. Werder had a chance to pull one back when they were awarded a penalty of their own. However, Romano Schmid’s weak effort was denied, which was a 5th straight spot-kick save by Noah Atubolu.
Die Werderaner kept fighting, but in the end a Karim Coulibaly own-goal put things to bed. It wasn’t the worst performance the club has ever seen, and the scoreline was a bit harsh on them. Then again, it wasn’t a showing that deserved a win by any stretch of the imagination.
They’re now in a weird spot. Bremen go into Friday’s game in 14th place, with four points in four games. It’s not terrible, but they’re very close to the bottom three. That is before this matchup, which they’re expected to lose heavily. If this result and scores elsewhere go poorly, the team will be in one of the relegation spots.
Then again, not many expected the Green-Whites to steal all three points in Munich two seasons ago. Maybe history will repeat itself here, which would be quite remarkable.
Team newsJulian Malatini, Maximilian Wöber, Olivier Deman, Niklas Stark, and Mitchell Weiser will miss out, while Samuel Mbangula is still questionable.
Predicted lineupsBackhaus, Sugawara, Pieper, Freidl, Agu, Lynen, Stage, Njinmah, Schmid, Puertas, Boniface
Category: General Sports
