15:30 Kickoffs: Musiala leads FCB “reaction”, Frankfurt draw, Bayer extend winning streak

A Jamal Musiala brace ensured that Vincent Kompany’s FC Bayern München were able to make their desired statement and keep hold of their lead at the top of the Bundesliga table on Saturday afternoon. Frank Schmidt’s 1. FC Heidenheim rolled into the Allianz Arena and did score two goals against the record champs. Bayern nevertheless now have a six-point-lead in first place courtesy of the fact that Frankfurt could only draw against visiting Augsburg in a concurrent kickoff. 

Kompany went with four straightforward and expected changes to the side that lined up against Leverkusen in the Pokal.Aleksandar Pavlovic and Sacha Boey returned to the starting XI over Leon Goretzka and Konrad Laimer. Thomas Müller spearheaded the attack while Jamal Musiala was sacrificed. As Kompany has already announced, keeper Daniel Peretz was handed his league debut in net for the injured Manuel Neuer. 

Schmidt chose to employ four changes as well, building a 3-5-2 led by Bayern loanee Paul Wanner and Austrian attacking midfielder Mathias Honsak. This was accomplished by replacing Marnon Busch, Mikkel Kaufmann, Leonardo Scienza, and Niklas Dorsch with Honsak, Omar Haktab Traoré, Tim Siersleben, and Luca Kerber. Heidenheim lined up very differently than they did in the recent league loss to Frankfurt.

The record champs had little trouble settling in around the Heidenheim penalty area, firing early warning shots via Müller and Leroy Sané in the opening quarter-of-an-hour. Space around the box remained tight, however. It took a set-piece for Bayern to take the lead in the 18th. Dayot Upamecano headed home a Joshua Kimmich corner for the 1-0. 

The traffic effectively moved in only one direction for the duration of the first half. Bayern exhibited a strong possessional and passing game, producing more scoring chances from Davies (39th) and Müller (40th). Davies struck the post on the former effort. At the end of the opening 45, however, Bayern were still only up 1-0 despite lording over 86 percent possession. 

Little of what transpired after the restart suggested that anything about the match would be different. At least that was the case until goal-scorer Upamecano’s weak back-pass to Peretz was picked up by the lurking Honsak. The new FCH starter happily accepted the gift, easily beating the FCB keeper one-on-one and sending the 50th-minute 1-1 into the back of the net. 

Parity would not last long. Just five minutes after being introduced as a substitute, Musiala restored the lead in the 56th. The German phenom’s goal came off a relatively simple play. Musiala simply ran towards the box and had a go. The sharp effort sailed through defender Siersleben’s legs and past FCH keeper Kevin Müller. 

Everything appeared settled when the snake-bit Siersleben deflected in another goal in the 84th. Leon Goretzka was credited with the 3-1. Shockingly enough, FCH sub Dorsch scored for Heidenheim one minute later thanks to some poor marking from Bayern in the box. This would only delay the conclusion. Musiala proved faster than the totally rattled Siersleben at 90+1, scoring the decisve 4-2.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga’s 15:30 kickoffs:

Frankfurt-Augsburg

Dino Toppmöller’s SGE found it consistently difficult to break down the FCA park over at Deutsche Bank Park. Eintracht attacker Ansgar Knauff furnished a pair of scoring chances in the first half, but that was about it from the league’s second-placed side. The German Eagles played much more energized football after the restart, finally taking the lead via Hugo Ekitiké in the 56th. This came after Ekitiké lived up to his recent reputation of being slightly too fancy with some wasted efforts early in the second 45. 

The game was then shockingly turned on its head when two errors from Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp enabled that Bavarian Swabians to score two unanswered. Trapp allowed FCA striker Philipp Tietz to nutmeg him on the 1-1 in the 60th, then cut a horrible figure attempting to hold onto a Kristijian Jakic effort in the 71st. Tietz’s attacking partner Samuel Essende capitalized on Trapp’s error to score the 2-1. The hosts would then draw level in the 74th when SGE sub Can Uzun’s effort deflected in off Tietz. 

Frankfurt unfortunately couldn’t break the deadlock. 

Leverkusen-St.Pauli

Xabi Alonso’s defending champs had little difficulty getting off to a cracking start against visiting St. Pauli at the BayArena. Goals from Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah in the opening 20 minutes ensured that the defending champs secured a commanding early lead. The half-time advantage might have been even greater were it not for a disallowed Nathan Tella (starting as the lead-striker as projected) goal in the 41st. Leverkusen dominance still couldn’t produce a third goal in the second half, however. 

Matters got very interesting toward the end when St. Pauli’s Morgan Guilavogui pulled a goal back. The Kiezkicker came agonizingly close to scoring an equalizer in the tense final moments of the game, but weren’t able to alter the final scoreline. Leverkusen’s seventh league win of the season ensures a respectable 26 points total through 13 rounds. The 2023/24 Bundesliga title-holders are still seven points behind Bayern thanks to their five draws thus far this season. 

Bochum-Bremen

Over “anne Castroper” last-placed VfL Bochum found rather out that their desired “Dieter Hecking” anti-Bremen magicwould not be materializing. The visiting Hanseaten completely outplayed their Westphalian hosts over the course of the initial 20 minutes. While the Reverklub created some interesting scoring chances later in the first-half, the lack of finishing quality in the squad continuously prevented Bochum from finding the back of the net. Eventually. Hecking’s side were made to pay for their inability to score. 

Jens Stage scored off a corner in the 56th to give the guests the lead. Bremen produced the better chances down the stretch as the Bochum crowd at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion grew uncharacteristically quiet. The match ended with Bremen remaining undefeated in 11 visits to the Ruhrpott town. Now winless in 15 league fixtures, Bochum have equalled their worst ever historic streak. The Bundesliga’s last-placed side possess just two points this year from two draws. 

Kiel-Leipzig

Marco Rose’s German Red Bulls were, not unexpectedly, able to dominate Marcel Rapp’s Storks in their trip up north to Schleswig Holstein. RB striker Benjamin Sesko – just as he did in Wednesday’s Pokal fixture – showcased his strong dribbling skills on the 27th-minute 1-0. Further offensive fireworks were nevertheless lacking and the Saxon guests never really managed to threaten to score a second goal. Rapp’s Kiel were gradually working their way back into the game until a controversial penalty enabled Leipzig to make it 2-0 from the spot. 

Loïs Openda seemed to go down rather easily Kiel defender Mavin Schulz grazed his arm in the 67th. Match official Florian Badstübner wasn’t interested in the protests from the home side and VAR did not intervene in the scene. RB substitute Andre Silva converted the 2-0 in the 69th. A modest amount of Kiel fight-back quickly fizzled out. Unfortunately for the league’s second-to-last-placed side, the controversy ended up serving as the match’s last word.