In the first game as club world champion, FC Bayern managed to avoid a total belly landing in the Munich snow against Arminia Bielefeld with a race to catch up. Without a number of top performers, the league leaders failed to switch from the desert in Qatar to the German winter and everyday Bundesliga life in the wild 3: 3 (0: 2) on Monday evening. The 25th goal of the season by Robert Lewandowski (48th) and the goals by Corentin Tolisso (57th) and Alphonso Davies (69th) ultimately prevented the long-threatened first home defeat since the 2-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen on November 30, 2019. Nevertheless, the Munich team crept disappointed from the lawn.
The guests took advantage of the moment and almost won the World Cup against poorly defending hosts with the first Bundesliga players from newcomer Michel Vlap (9th minute), defender Amos Piper (37th) and Christian Gebauer (49th). An offside goal from Sergio Cordova to the alleged 4: 3 was not recognized according to video evidence.
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The lead of the dull and defensively sleepy Bayern on the first rival RB Leipzig shrank to five points at the end of the 21st match day. So it is getting tighter again for the series champions, who have to compete in third place Eintracht Frankfurt before the Champions League game at Lazio Rome next Saturday. The very closed and effective Bielefelder stayed on the relegation place 16.
Without Kimmich, Bayern lacked stability
Just in time for kick-off, snow fell in the Allianz Arena, creating an extreme climate contrast to the Club World Cup in Qatar. In addition, there were the failures of the top performers Müller, Gnabry, Goretzka and Boateng at Bayern. Douglas Costa was also out at short notice. The Brazilian suffered a hairline crack in his metatarsus during training and is missing for the time being. Nevertheless, coach Hansi Flick initially spared Joshua Kimmich, which did not improve the stability in midfield. Only after the 2: 3 connection goal Kimmich came as a right defender.
The rested Bielefeld got along better, especially in the first half, on the increasingly snow-covered lawn. They looked livelier and more harmonious and were very effective. The new signing Vlap from RSC Anderlecht had a great league debut. He sunk a pass from Manuel Prietl from the turn. National goalkeeper Manuel Neuer scolded his front men as well as the other goals. When Pieper headed 2-0, Niklas Süle and David Alaba were poorly positioned.
Bayern ran on the cleared lawn after the break. Lewandowski hit volley from the turn after accepting the pass from Alaba with his chest. But Bielefeld countered in return. Again Bayern were behind with two goals. Many attacks ran through Leroy Sané, who hit the post once (48th) and later prepared the goals of Tolisso and Davies respectively. (dpa)
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