FC Bayern defeats Barca in the Champions League – Lewandowski remains without a goal

Will Robert Lewandowski spoil FC Bayern’s Champions League evening when he returns to Munich? This was the big question before the game against the reinvigorated FC Barcelona. But after the 90 top-class minutes, the exceptional striker is less talked about, because Lewandowski remained without a goal.

Instead, FC Bayern, who turned up after the break, has again become a terror for Barca. Thanks to a significant increase in performance with sudden consistency in attack, the German record champions celebrated their fifth win in a row against the Catalans with a 2-0 (0-0).

Double strike in four minutes puts Bayern on the road to victory

The extremely strong defender Lucas Hernández with a header (50th minute) and Leroy Sané (54th), who was accurate as in the 2-0 win against Inter Milan (54th), put the 75,000 spectators in the Allianz Arena in a high-intensity premier class game in a party mood – and left Thomas Müller experience a happy 33rd birthday.

In the first half, Lewandowski spared his former club when the world footballer repeatedly appeared promising in front of Bayern captain Manuel Neuer. One of the cornerstones of Bayern’s home win was the strong tackle of Hernández and Dayot Upamecano in the center of defence. The duo was victorious in the Lewandowski fight.

After two wins in two premier class games, coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team could make it into the round of 16 in the coming games against Viktoria Pilsen.

Friendly reception for Robert Lewandowski

All eyes were on Lewandowski – and the Pole was given a friendly welcome at his old place of work, despite the changing theater in the summer. There was a lot of applause from the ranks before the game, and the Pole applauded back demonstratively. “You should always welcome former employees, regardless of their position and role,” said Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann on Amazon Prime Video. Accordingly, Lewandowski high-fived each of his ex-colleagues before the game.

However, he quickly made it clear that the world footballer had not only come to the Allianz Arena to shake hands. After just a few weeks, the top scorer is the linchpin of the Catalans, who had been separated by a total of 2:14 goals in the last three duels with Munich.

Confidence is back in Barcelona

But with Lewandowski, self-confidence is apparently back. And the top scorer initiated the first big chance himself, Manuel Neuer prevented the early deficit with a strong foot defense against Pedri (9th). After that it was Lewandowski himself who – quite untypical – missed a huge chance (18th) and shortly afterwards failed with a header to Neuer (21st). Shortly before the break, Noussair Mazraoui, who came on for the world champion Benjamin Pavard who had been knocked out, cleared a shot from the Pole (42nd). As the game progressed, however, Bayern got a better grip on their old goalkeepers (344 goals in 375 games).

And the Bayern offensive? The Nagelsmann team obviously struggled with the extremely high pressure from the Spaniards. Only rarely did Müller and Co. get up to speed in the first 45 minutes. Superstar Sadio Mané, who came from Liverpool to replace Lewandowski, also remained quite pale – this time on the wing. Accordingly, the Senegalese was replaced by Serge Gnabry in the second half.

It was not until the 30th minute that Marcel Sabitzer caused danger with a long-range shot for the first time. But the shot went just wide of the goal of the German keeper Marc-André ter Stegen.

Barca were much closer to the goal than Bayern at this stage. Especially if the Dutch referee Danny Makkelie had decided on a penalty when Alphonso Davies tackled ex-Dortmund Ousmane Dembelé. In any case, the Canadian had not hit the ball.

Goretzka brings momentum to the Bayern game

After the Munich seconds after the restart had to survive a moment of shock when Raphina shot, it was Leon Goretzka who forced ter Stegen to make the first save from a distance. The national player came for Sabitzer at the break. The change had an effect. Seconds later it had already happened. Hernandez headed in after a Joshua Kimmich corner.

Suddenly Bayern were on top. Only four minutes later, Sané followed suit when he was staged by Jamal Musiala and then also sent Ter Stegen. In the first group game against Inter, the changeable striker was the match winner. It was Munich’s callousness that made the difference. Significant for this was Pedri’s huge chance, who put the ball completely free on the post (63′).

Leverkusen wins, Frankfurt threatens ghost game

Bayer Leverkusen took a first step out of the crisis with late goals. After a major false start to the season so far, the penultimate Bundesliga team managed a respectable win over Atlético Madrid 2-0 (0-0) in the Champions League. In front of 25,825 spectators in the BayArena, Robert Andrich (84th minute) and Moussa Diaby (87th) helped the hosts to a deserved victory over the Spaniards.

Despite a 1-0 (1-0) success at Olympique Marseille, Eintracht lost sympathy with an ugly performance by its fans. Now the SGE has to fear a ghost game in the Champions League because the club was on probation because of previous fan freaks. The joy of Jesper Lindström’s winning goal (43rd minute) and the first three points that saw the Hessians catch up to next opponent Tottenham Hotspur in second place in Group D was considerably marred by the gaffes of the fans who had traveled with them.