Bundesliga: FC Bayern defeated 1. FC Köln thanks to Harry Kane

Tuchel scoffs at the appointment

And again and again Harry Kane: Despite unusually short preparation and careless exploitation of opportunities, Bayern Munich also won against their new favorite opponent 1. FC Cologne and took the lead in the Bundesliga for at least 19 hours. The English striker scored the decisive goal for the tenth away win in a row in Cologne with his 18th goal of the season (20th minute) in the unnecessarily narrow 1-0 (1-0) win. The previous success had brought Bayern their eleventh championship title in a row 181 days earlier.

Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel had previously spoken mockingly of a “glorious game plan” and a “sensational schedule” in view of the international trips, from which some Bayern professionals only returned on Thursday. Contrary to usual practice, his team only arrived on the day of the match by private jet – in contrast to the 1-2 defeat in the DFB Cup against third division team 1. FC Saarbrücken three weeks ago, things went well this time.

At the start of the 12th matchday, FC slipped at least temporarily to last place. The five remaining preliminary round games against mostly competitors such as Darmstadt, Mainz, Freiburg, Union Berlin and Heidenheim will now be of fundamental importance. Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart had switched to a three-man chain. The fact that winger Linton Maina became a left-back in the first half was almost as creative as national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s transfer of Kai Havertz to the national team.

Tuchel had made four changes to his team, including giving Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting preference over Thomas Müller on offense. He justified this, among other things, with his strength “in defending standard situations”. But the Cameroon international also had the first chance in the 5th minute when he narrowly missed. It was the starting signal for an extreme period of pressure for Bayern.

First the post saved Cologne defender Timo Hübers from an own goal (6th), then Leroy Sané (7th) missed a 100% chance in front of FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe when he tried to lift the ball instead of pushing it past. And then Cologne suddenly had a 1-0 lead, Jan Thielmann was denied by Manuel Neuer (10th).

The hosts now seemed better in the game – and ran into a counterattack with high spirits: Jeff Chabot hit a shot from Choupo-Moting off the line, but Kane converted the follow-up shot. A minute later the event almost repeated itself, but Schwäbe prevented Choupo-Moting from making it 0-2. Sané, who was once again very conspicuous despite his poor use of opportunities, narrowly missed again (27th). Although Neuer also had to parry a tricky header from Rasmus Carstensen (31′), Bayern should have been significantly higher at the break.

After the change, Cologne were more compact, Bayern, despite increasing possession of the ball, hardly found any gaps and didn’t have any good opportunities for a long time. In the 78th minute, Kingsley Coman had a great chance to make a preliminary decision, his header hit the crossbar. Three minutes later, the Frenchman missed the ball from a promising position. Coach Tuchel didn’t like the unnecessary shaking, but in the end his team managed to maintain a narrow lead over time.

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