Two goals conceded within five minutes from corner kicks – then FC Bayern Munich was in trouble. Michael Olise in particular ensured a 6:2 (2:2) win against SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga despite a 0-2 deficit. Lennart Karl made it 1:2 (22nd minute), then Olise added (45th + 2), Dayot Upamecano (56th), Harry Kane (60th), Nicolas Jackson (78th) and again Olise (84th), who also prepared three goals, completed the turnaround.
“We had a lot of problems at the beginning and were never in our rhythm. But the 70 minutes after that were a mixture of frustration and joy of playing, we showed that we didn’t accept that.”said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany in the Sportschau interview. “You can always have a phase where things aren’t going well, we’re only human – but that doesn’t change the fact that we know we can turn it around.”
In the game against Bayer Leverkusen (3-0), Kompany received a clear signal from his team that it was no problem to give regular players a break. It was therefore easy for the coach to put Joshua Kimmich on the bench after he continued to have ankle problems. But unlike Leverkusen, Freiburg did not surrender to Bayern’s star ensemble, which was not fully staffed.
Red alert in Freiburg’s corners
From the first minute, coach Julian Schuster’s team stormed towards the Munich goal like no other team had done so far this season. Jan-Niklas Beste had the first good opportunity in the first minute; the game took place almost entirely in the record champions’ half. And he was then surprised by the opponent’s strength in standard situations.
After a corner in which Matthias Ginter used his heel to extend a low cross, Yuito Suzuki took the early and deserved lead for Freiburg (12′). And shortly afterwards Johan Manzambi made it 2-0 with a header, again after a corner kick, this time Beste had crossed the ball directly onto the second post (17th).
Karl brings Bayern back into the game against Freiburg
After 20 minutes, Bayern picked up a few gears. Karl missed the first opportunity because he is clearly not a specialist in headers (21st) – the youngster showed shortly afterwards how great his qualities with his feet are. Karl made contact with a pass from Olise past the opponent and scored with his “weak” right foot to score the goal (22′).
The 17-year-old had already scored three goals in his first two games for the German U21 national team, and now he was successful again. Overall, Karl was the most active player on his team, which struggled afterwards. Freiburg built up the bulwark, defended with the entire team and didn’t let anything happen – until stoppage time.
Olise, Upamecano – and Bayern are rolling again
Noah Atubolu was initially able to fend off a shot from Aleksandar Pavlovic, but Munich followed up and Karl turned the tables and fed Olise, who equalized (45th + 2). It was Atubolu’s turn again, but he couldn’t turn the ball around the post – but the Freiburg goalkeeper didn’t look completely without a chance. But the fact was that Bayern were fully back in the game.
And especially Karl, who continued to spin after the break and scored again – although the assist provider, Josip Stanisic, had previously been offside (52′). But everything was fine in the 55th minute when Upamecano completed the Bavarian turnaround. Bayern also showed that they can take corners, the Frenchman was blocked and scored from four meters to make it 3-2 (56th).
Kane and Jackson make things clear
There were already signs that Bayern would add one or two more goals; the Kompany team simply couldn’t be stopped, even though Freiburg didn’t defend badly at all. And so Kane also had his moment when the ball accidentally fell in front of his left foot and he scored his 14th goal of the season (60th). The guests had been dreaming of a win when the score was 2-0, but now they had to be careful not to fall under the wheels.
The Freiburgers seemed to succeed in this, as they braced themselves against Bayern, who continued to storm. They also suffered a setback because the outstanding Karl had to leave the field injured after 70 minutes. Without the whirlwind, who wasn’t even of age, not quite as much happened at first – but then the extremely strong Olise scored for the third time, this time for Jackson (78th).
Final point from Munich’s Olise before the Arsenal summit
And so Bayern befittingly prepared for the next summit meeting on the international stage – especially since Olise scored a wonderful goal with a curling shot to make the final score 6-2 (84th). The Frenchman was directly involved in five of the six goals and even overshadowed Karl.
After the recent prestigious success against Paris St. Germain (2-1) in the Champions League, the next first-versus-second game is now on the program for Bayern in the premier class; on Wednesday (9 p.m.) Munich will be guests at FC Arsenal. Freiburg is also on the international stage, and the Schuster team will continue in the Europa League a day later at 6:45 p.m. against Viktoria Pilsen.
“Almost the entire first half worked out the way we imagined, even if the 2-2 score just before half-time was very annoying.”said Schuster in the Sportschau interview. “In my opinion, the result does not reflect the performance. It is a shame that we go home with such a result, even though we did a lot of things right.”