Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Muller built on their tremendous seasons as Bayern Munich hit four past Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena.
Bayer Leverkusen failed to stop a relentless Bayern Munich as they hosted the leaders in one of the most exciting games of the season. After taking an early lead through Lucas Alario, Leverkusen could only do so much against an inspired Bayern, who eventually won the game 4-2.
Alario put Die Werkself in front in the 9th minute, but it was only downhill for them post that as they got hit for three in the first half alone, with Kingsley Coman, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry on target for the Bavarians. However, the game featured two very notable moments, both of them coming in the second half of the game.
Firstly, in the 66th minute, Thomas Muller assisted Robert Lewandowski’s scintillating header to take the latter’s goal tally to 30 for the Bundesliga season. Nonetheless, this was a stand-out moment for Muller, who registered his 20th assist of the season, making him the player with the most assists in one season, overtaking Kevin De Bruyne and Emil Forsberg’s tally of 19.
Most assists in a single season:
2️⃣0️⃣ – Thomas Müller
1️⃣9️⃣ – Emil Forsberg
1️⃣9️⃣ – Kevin De BruyneWe have a new king ? pic.twitter.com/s2kD17qfdC
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) June 6, 2020
The second of the two came late in the game as Florian Wirtz curled the ball beautifully past Manuel Neuer. In only his fourth appearance for Leverkusen, Wirtz became the youngest ever goal-scorer in the Bundesliga at 17 years and 34 days, beating the previous record set by Nuri Sahin (17 years and 2 months) way back in 2005. The Hard Tackle now assess Hansi Flick’s men individually.
Manuel Neuer: 6.5/10
Neuer faced 6 shots, out of which 4 were essentially catching practice. The two which were not bulged the back of the net. He ended the game with 83% passing accuracy which is considerably lower than the usual 90% he manages every game. Apart from that, the German shot-stopper did not have have a lot to do, really, as the visitors dominated the game quite easily.
Benjamin Pavard: 7/10
As Bayern continued to run rampant through the right wing, Pavard was quite involved throughout the game. He started the move for Bayern’s third goal which was finished off by Serge Gnarby in style. Apart from that, the Frenchman also completed 100% of his long balls and tackles.
Jerome Boateng: 6/10
The soon-to-be 31-year-old has had a bit of resurgence under Hansi Flick. Today, however, was not proof of that. Boateng gave the ball away clumsily in the first half which led to Leverkusen’s opener, and he, again, was caught out of position for the final goal, as Paulinho played off of Florian Wirtz quite easily.
On the plus side, though, Boateng ended the game with 87.7% passing accuracy and completed a majority of his long balls (8/15).
David Alaba: 7.5/10
The make-shift centre half has been rather brilliant since the appointment of the coaching staff and it does not look as if he is going to lose his spot despite Lucas Hernandez’s return from injury. Alaba created two major chances for his team through his pinpoint long balls, and led the defence through phases of constant Leverkusen attacks.
Alphonso Davies: 8/10
Davies does it again, this time against a considerably tougher attack. There is arguably no better left-back in the world right now than the 19-year-old. He came on top on 13 of his 15 ground duels, successfully winning all his tackles. He also completed 100% of his dribbles and won a set-piece on four different occasions.
Joshua Kimmich: 9.5/10
There is absolutely no toppling Kimmich under Flick, who has helped the German revert to his preferred playing position, making him the best midfielder in the league. The 25-year-old ended the game with 3 key passes, 100% duels won, a 91.9% pass completion rate and to top it all off, he brilliantly assisted Serge Gnabry’s chip just before half time. Truly taking his game to the next level.
Leon Goretzka: 10/10
Goretzka has been constantly improving since the resumption of football, and he has truly taken his game to the next level. He has built significant muscle mass and is next to impossible to overpower in a duel.
Leon Goretzka’s heat map from today proves he’s becoming Bayern’s ultimate box-to-box midfielder.
Becoming a BIG presence in every way. pic.twitter.com/53ASO29Mee
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 6, 2020
Against Leverkusen, the German midfielder ended the game with one goal, one assist, 2/2 shots on target, 91% passing accuracy, one key pass and 100% tackle completion. A complete man of the match performance.
Serge Gnabry: 7/10
Even one of Gnabry’s rather underwhelming performance this season ended with a goal, a rather tremendous one, too. On the other hand, he missed a spectacularly easy chance right before scoring, hitting the ball straight at Lucas Hradecky who saved it with ease. However, he lost possession only 8 times in the 74 minutes he played – the second-lowest of the outfield starters.
Thomas Muller: 8/10
Muller showed a lot of grit against Leverkusen, constantly running around the pitch as he does. He was also responsible for setting up two goals for his teammates which took him to a record 20 assists for the season.
Muller showed a lot of creativity up the pitch using flicks and tricks to create space for himself and others. Would have easily been an 9/10 performance had it not been for his below par 68.2% passing accuracy and constantly losing possession – 23 times today.
Robert Lewandowski: 7.5/10
A decent outing for the Pole, who is the top scorer across the five leagues this season. He added to his humongous tally to take his personal tally to 30 in the league and 44 in all competitions, which is his personal best and one shy of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 31, which is the highest total in a season since 1977(!).
Lewandowski is still 10 behind Gerd Muller’s record high of 40 in a season, but with four matchdays left to play, we all know it’s not beyond Lewandowski to equal or even cross it.
SUBSTITUTES
Ivan Perisic: 5/10
Despite coming on at the 66th minute of the game, Perisic was able to touch the ball a mere 14 times, completing 7 of his 10 attempted passes. He also managed to lose the ball six times, as much as Goretzka managed in 74 minutes. Low-key shambolic.
Javi Martinez: 7/10
The 31-year-old Spaniard came on in the 74th minute to replace the man of the match Leon Goretzka. Martinez held the fort quite well in the last 15 minutes of the game, winning all his ground duels and making two interceptions, as well.
Thiago Alcantara: 7/10
Thiago made his long overdue return to the Bayern Munich team replacing Serge Gnabry which meant Bayern had shifted to a more compact 4-3-3 for the last phase of the game. The Spanish international completed 2/2 dribbles, 2/2 ground duels and 2/2 of his long balls. Expect to see more of him in midfield starting next week.
Lucas Hernandez: 6.5/10
Lucas Hernandez was introduced to see the game out for Bayern but ended up doing more than Boateng did throughout the game. He completed all 10 of his passes, and even created a goal-scoring chance. Could’ve marked Florian Wirtz a bit better, though.
