LEWANDOWSKI’S PENALTY SAVES BAYERN FROM A DRAW WITH BRAVE AUGSBURB. BAYERN 1-0 AUGSBURG.
Bayern Munich made it five undefeated home matches in a row with a narrow 1-0 win over FC Augsburg, who failed to take advantage of a bleak ‘Die Roten’ attacking display and failed to win at Allianz Arena for the first time since 2014/15.
With the Allianz Arena witnessing a capacity crowd of 75,000 for the first time in five months and three days, the onus was on Bayern Munich to deliver after a midweek to forget in Spain. Augsburg did well to neutralise the hosts from the very outset, with Benjamin Pavard and Joshua Kimmich both being denied chances from the edge of the box by virtue of some brilliant defending by the visitors.
In his fifth consecutive 30+ goal league season at ‘Die Roten’, Robert Lewandowski then struck his freekick right into the wall eight minutes before HT, before which Bayern upped the ante in order to draw first blood. However, their sub-par attacking display forced Julian Nagelsmann to head into the dressing room with a frown on his face.
The ‘Fuggerstädter’ were immediately threatened by Bayern’s iconic Polish marksman after the restart as he directed a header into the far right of Rafał Gikiewicz’s post, only to see the goalkeeper thwart it away with utmost brilliance. Both teams came agonisingly close to opening the deadlock on the hour mark, on the back of quickfire counterattacks. Despite Augsburg’s effort via Andi Zeqiri’s low drive, it was Kimmich’s superb long-range effort that was parried away by Gikiewicz that got the home fans up on their feet.
The final-quarter hour saw the game being played almost entirely in the visitors’ half, as Kingsley Coman and Jamal Musiala both threw away chances inches wide of both Augsburg posts, before the game turned on its head. A handball in the box handed Bayern a penalty kick and a chance to win the match, after a VAR review, to which Lewandowski stepped up to bag his 32nd league goal of the season, and break Augsburg’s strong resistance.
Markus Weinzierl’s men failed to pick themselves up after conceding the game’s solitary goal, continuing their toothless form on the road, scoring an average of less than a goal per game across 15 league trips. Meanwhile, Bayern are well on their way to a 10th successive Bundesliga title.
