Thanks to a gala performance by Harry Kane and Min-jae Kim, Bayern Munich keeps up with leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. VfB Stuttgart had no chance at all against the record champions in a 3-0 (1-0) win on Sunday evening.
Completely different to the previous game between industry leaders Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt (3-0), there was a big alarm from the kick-off in this duel. After a minute and a half, Leroy Sané, who was also outstanding in this game, got ahead of Alexander Nübel after a counterattack and put the ball perfectly across for Kane – who only had to push in to make it 1-0.
VAR swallows two Bayern goals
However, Stuttgart was not shocked, let the ball run well and at times pushed the Munich team back into their own half. But whenever Bayern counterattacked, things immediately became dangerous again. In the 25th minute, the fans of the record champions celebrated the 2-0, but the VAR conceded Min-jae Kim’s header after Aleksandar Pavlovic’s free kick due to the South Korean’s minimal offside position.
This was not the only intervention by the Cologne cellar. Sané missed three opportunities to score Bayern’s second goal before Thomas Müller gave Nübel no chance in stoppage time in the first half. But this goal was also conceded shortly afterwards because Müller was just in the forbidden zone when Kim passed the ball.
Taufig Khalil / Daniel Gahn, Sportschau, December 17, 2023 9:24 p.m
Kim runs it Preliminary decision a
A goal denied, an assist denied – but Kim didn’t let herself be discouraged. Ten minutes after the restart, he rose up from another Pavlovic free kick and headed perfectly across for Kane, who scored his 20th goal of the season (55th).
And VfB still couldn’t get the South Korean under control at all. In the 63rd minute, a controversial corner sailed into the Stuttgart penalty area, again Kim seemingly effortlessly prevailed in the aerial duel and made it 3-0 with a deflected header.
“We put the horsepower on the road”
Thomas Müller was happy afterwards in the Sportschau interview: “Stuttgart is playing a top season, but we have the better team, that’s not meant to be disrespectful at all – and we brought that horsepower to the streets today. We were already good against United, in Frankfurt before that there was simply nothing going on. Now “It was good twice – but don’t worry, we’ll carry on.”
Thomas Klinger, Sportschau, December 17, 2023 9:38 p.m
Munich-educated Stuttgarter Angelo Stiller admitted: “It’s okay for Bayern to win because we were too timid at times and too sloppy in the final third and couldn’t pose any threat to score. We were surprised that Bayern were so deep and relied on the counterattack. But when you’re behind , it will be brutally difficult.”
Bayern in Wolfsburg, VfB against Augsburg
After the 3-0 defeat, VfB realized that a more defensive orientation was the better choice for the remaining half hour in order not to go completely under. But even with less space to counterattack and fewer set pieces, Bayern had no trouble bringing home their clear victory.
The Munich team will travel to Wolfsburg next matchday (Wednesday, December 20, 2023 at 8:30 p.m.). The Swabians are visiting Augsburg.