Record thanks to workmanlike victory: FCB beat plucky Gladbach

Heavy traffic caused Bayern problems even before a ball was kicked. The team bus made slow progress to the stadium, so kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes on Saturday. But even after kick-off, Vincent Kompany’s men struggled to make headway for a long time. Bayern strangled the defence-minded bottom team with possession, but space was at a premium. Bayern’s 13^th victory this season – equalling AC Milan’s record from 1992 – was hard work.

Patience rewarded

“It definitely was a game of patience,” said Joshua Kimmich, who opened the scoring after Bayern ran up in vain for an hour (64’). Subs Raphaël Guerreiro (69’) and Lennart Karl (80’) extended the lead to maintain Bayern’s strong run: “Our 13 competitive victories at the start are no coincidence, it’s the reward for hard work, consistent training and a clear structure in the team,” commented Kimmich: “We have a really good team.”

Vincent Kompany had once again prepared his men well. The head coach had announced his team would ignore the table and approach the encounter “like a top match.” But he was unable to prevent Gladbach from playing the game as expected from a bottom team: “It was very emotional in the first half, Gladbach fought for every ball,” explained Kompany.

No goals despite dominance

The home side sat deep and looked to strike on the break, Munich having eight shots to Gladbach’s zero and 81 percent possession at the break, although they only won 39 percent of their tackles. Bayern failed to score before half-time for the first time this season. It would have been exciting to see how the game would have unfolded if Luis Díaz had taken his chance in the first minute, when the Colombian had only the keeper to beat after fine interplay with Nicolas Jackson but fired just wide. “Of course we should have taken the lead after one minute,” said Joshua Kimmich.

This way, Borussia were able to continue with their defensive tactics, even more so when Jens Castrop received his marching orders against a challenge on Luis Díaz after 18 minutes. “Gladbach got a grip after the red card and closed down the space extremely well,” commented Max Eberl. “But it was clear we’d get our chances,” added the board member for sport. It was one-way traffic, with Muning running up and peppering the goal with shots, but only the 19^th one went in when Kimmich netted the rebound to open the floodgates.

Bayern won back their ease and Michael Olise soon invited sub Guerreiro to double the lead before Lennart Karl scored a sumptuous goal just three days after his goal against Club Brugge, which had made him the youngest German Champions League scorer. FCB went on to score three or more goals in the eighth consecutive away match, a new Bundesliga record. “At the end of the day it was a deserved victory. It definitely wasn’t easy, but we kept our cool and kept going,” a happy Eberl summarised: “Patience is an important part of our play, and we showed that today.”

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Gladbach almost pulled one back when they were awarded a penalty, only for Kevin Stöger to hit the post in the 75^th minute. It was Borussia’s only shot on Saturday (Bayern racked up 27), with Jonas Urbig having a calm afternoon between the sticks. The 22-year-old enjoyed a successful dress rehearsal for Wednesday evening’s DFB Cup match away at Köln which Manuel Neuer will miss with a ban.

Ready for the cup

“The team made it easy for me, I had almost nothing to do,” said Urbig, who was satisfied with his performance. “I have a really good feeling ahead of the cup game away at Köln. We turned in a strong team display, we’ll build on that.” A win is the only option for Bayern in the knockout tie. It would be their 14^th this season and a new record in Europe. “We want to win but still treat all opponents with respect, which is what we’ll do on Wednesday too,” said Max Eberl, who issued a warning: “Cup matches have a special appeal. We’re looking forward to it. It won’t get easier, I know the atmosphere at Köln.”