The German record champions despair of the North Germans in their own arena and suffer an unexpected defeat. Things get dramatic in the end.
FC Bayern Munich has suffered a bitter setback in the race for the German championship. The German record champions lost 0-1 (0-0) at home against Werder Bremen on Sunday afternoon of the 18th matchday. Mitchell Weiser (59th) scored the goal of the day against a committed but unfortunate Munich team. This means that leaders Bayer Leverkusen are now, at least temporarily, seven points ahead, but Bayern still have a catch-up game against Union Berlin during the week and could at least reduce the lead to four points again with a win.
Bayern were even lucky that referee Marco Fritz overturned a counterattack goal by Werder striker Justin Nijanmah in the 25th minute following VAR intervention. Before the successful Bremen counterattack, Jens Stage separated Bayern playmaker Jamal Musiala from the ball with a foul, which Fritz initially did not see as such in the live view.
This is how the game went:
After the short training camp in Portugal, the Bayern stars seemed frozen in the Allianz Arena. Tuchel rated the days in the Algarve before kick-off on DAZN as “a good impulse”. It was stupid that there was absolutely nothing to be seen on the lawn. The attacking game was static, without dedication, without inspiration and without speed. And in contrast to the example of Bayer Leverkusen, the rehearsed Munich corner variants also completely fizzled out.
A shot from Leroy Sané and a chance from Dayot Upamecano defused by Werder goalkeeper Michael Zetterer were Bayern’s meager offensive output before the break.
And Werder? Acted compactly and courageously forward even without national players Marvin Ducksch and Leonardo Bittencourt (both yellow card suspensions). For a long time, all that was missing was the deserved reward. Nijnmah’s goal didn’t count. And Bayern captain Neuer used his fingertips to direct a deflected shot from the strong Weiser towards the corner (24′). Bremen’s series of 28 games without a win against Bayern until Sunday seemed to continue.
Bremen’s goalkeeper held on to win
Tuchel surprisingly forewent an impulse from the bench with Thomas Müller or Leon Goretzka at half-time. Harry Kane shot from distance (50th), but the action did not have a hello effect. Rather, the big moment came from Weiser, who first played past Alphonso Davies and then hit the ball under the crossbar from a tight angle.
Now Tuchel had to react. Müller, Goretzka and Tel came. The pressure from Bayern inevitably increased. Sané tested Zetterer, further exciting scenes in the Werder penalty area (79th). Bremen’s goalkeeper was constantly in the spotlight in the final phase before he and his fellow field players were able to celebrate the big victory.