Werkself pointless for first time under Wolf

In contrast to the 3-0 derby win at the weekend, head coach Hannes Wolf made three changes to his starting eleven: Jonathan Tah, Daley Sinkgraven and Jeremie Frimpong replaced Tin Jedvaj, Wendell and Nadiem Amiri. Wolf returned to playing a back three as he did in the second half against FC Köln.

Impressive start by Werkself, but FC Bayern clinical

Playing in a silver kit, the Werkself launched the first attack of the night at the Allianz Arena: With five minutes on the clock, Sinkgraven passed to Leon Bailey. The low shot from the two-goal derby hero was blocked on the edge of the box. While the visitors were unable to convert their first chance, the record champions made no mistake with their first shot on goal: David Alaba picked out Thomas Müller in the penalty area and he shot from close range. Lukas Hradecky made a decent save but the rebound landed at the feet of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and his follow-up effort ended in the back of the net with a deflection off Sven Bender – the Werkself were 1-0 down early on (8').

While Patrik Schick just failed to connect with a Bailey cross from the left, FC Bayern used their second shot on goal for the second goal of the game: From a cross from the left, the ball came off Sinkgraven – providing a perfect setup for Joshua Kimmich. The Germany international fired an unstoppable shot into the bottom left corner of the net from the edge of the box (13').

It took a few minutes for the visitors from Leverkusen to recover from the early double blow. The first danger came from a shot by Schick that landed in the arms of Manuel Neuer (21'). From that point, the hosts were clearly on top as they dominated the ball and proceedings at the Allianz Arena. Hradecky was called into action again just before half-time – and he impressively demonstrated his ability. The Finn made a flying save to keep out a Alaba free kick heading for the top corner (44'). Shortly after that,Guido Winkmann blew the whistle at the end of the first 45.

Double substitution and offensive efforts

Wolf decided to make two changes for the start of the second half: Karim Bellarabi replaced Frimpong on the right, Florian Wirtz was brought on to liven up the attack in place of Moussa Diaby. The Werkself head coach appeared to have found the right words in the dressing room at the Allianz Arena as the Werkself were on the front foot from the start and they pressed the FC Bayern defence high up the pitch. The only problem: the counter-attacking strength of the Munich team. Hradecky was called into action to deny Müller (52'). After the hour mark, Wolf brought on Kerem Demirbay for Charles Aránguiz to underline the offensive ambitions of his team with his third substitution.

Choupo-Moting, scorer of the opening goal found the back of the net again on 66 minutes. But the 32-year-old was offside. At the other end, the Werkself had their biggest chance up to that point – and twice in quick succession. From a Bailey cross from the left, Bellarabi hit the ball against the bar and a couple of seconds later our number 38 put a shot just the left of the goal (69'). Wolf noticed during this phase that there was still everything to play for and there was the possibility of at least pulling a goal back. The 40-year-old switched to a back four when he brought on Amiri for defensive stalwart Sven Bender.

It was the new player in silver who hit a long-range effort on 75 minutes but Neuer was able to keep out the shot from Amiri. Six minutes later came a similar incident and again Neuer denied Amiri. The Werkself pulled out all the stops but the first goal for the Black and Reds failed to materialise. The score remained 2-0 with the Werkself unable to recover from the early double strike by FC Bayern on the night.

#B04SGE: Saturday night again

The final double fixture week of 2020/21 sees the Werkself at home again with the game at the top match time: Third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt are the visitors to the BayArena on Saturday, 24 April (kick-off: 18.30 CET). The remaining opponents in the season run-in are Werder Bremen, Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund.

Match stats:

FC Bayern: Neuer – Pavard (Sarr 82'), Boateng (Nianzou 63'), Hernandez, Davies – Kimmich, Alaba – Coman (Sané 63’), Müller (Goretzka 63’), Musiala (Scott 82’) – Choupo-Moting

Bayer 04: Hradecky – Tah, S. Bender (Amiri 70'), Tapsoba – Frimpong (Bellarabi 46'), Palacios, Aránguiz (Demirbay 60'), Sinkgraven (Wendell 83') – Bailey, Schick, Diaby (Wirtz 46')

Goals: 1-0 Choupo-Moting (8’), 2-0 Kimmich (13’)

Referee: Guido Winkmann (Kerken)