But even if the hosts courageously confronted the champions, despite the hectic initial phase, they found their game better over time. It was important to Nagelsmann, he said before the game, even before the league started, to “make a small statement and show your strength” against a competitor. It flashed for the first time when the ball landed at Musiala after a quarter of an hour as a result of a corner, which wobbled briefly and shot into the far corner.
An ideal starting position for Bayern to do what they are so good at: controlling events from a position of strength. At the front, Mané, Musiala, Gnabry and Thomas Müller fluently occupied the spaces and pulled the Leipzig team apart, who themselves did little offensively. So it was easy for Bayern to combine through the ranks.
After a nice pass relay, Gnabry put the ball in from the left and Mané only had to push in from a central position – 2:0. Shortly before the break, Bayern turned up the heat again. Above all, the very strong Musiala, who alluded to a one-two with Müller Pavard in the middle. The Frenchman cheered and RB coach Domenico Tedesco was visibly served on the sidelines. “It wasn’t a good first half for us. We definitely have to do better,” Leipzig’s Oliver Mintzlaff complained after the final whistle on “Sky”.
Coach Tedesco must have found the right words in the dressing room, because RB came out of half-time much more energetically. Substitute André Silva (56′) headed to the crossbar after a corner from Dominik Szoboszlai before Halstenberg crashed a corner kick from Nkunku three minutes later. But it didn’t take long for Bayern to restore the old distance through Gnabry. However, Nkunku and Olmo created excitement again before Sané finally put the lid on it.