FC Bayern München dominated this Sunday evening and allowed SCF, who clearly improved after the break, very few chances.

The Freiburg coaching staff had to make some changes from the 2-1 UEFA Europa League defeat to West Ham United. Chicco Höfler served the final match of his suspension following a red card, while Matthias Ginter missed out at short notice due to illness. Merlin Röhl started in defensive midfield alongside Maximilian Eggestein, while Manuel Gulde joined Philipp Lienhart in central defence. Ritsu Doan returned to the starting XI, with Junior Adamu starting on the bench. The match came too early for the recently injured Michael Gregoritsch and Yannik Keitel.

“It was a very difficult game with inconvenient conditions for us,” Christian Streich stated after the final whistle. “After we played on Thursday, we didn’t have a few players with us who we would have needed.”

After just three minutes, Joshua Kimmich cheekily aimed a Bayern corner towards the goal, but Lucas Höler was thankfully alert. Three minutes later, the Freiburg forward arrived in the opposition’s penalty area after lovely work from Roland Sallai, but fired well wide from a promising position.

Bayern let the ball do the work in the opening minutes without creating clear goalscoring chances. This made then 12th minute all the more of a bitter blow from Freiburg’s perspective. A mishit cross from Kingsley Coman on the right flank kept going and looped over Noah Atubolu into the far corner via the inside of the post. Next, Harry Kane twice narrowly missed from around 16 yards out (19’, 22’).

Sané extends the lead early

SCF had registered just 25 percent possession after 20 minutes. Not only was the passing play from Thomas Tuchel’s team working, but the individual quality was showing more and more. After 25 minutes, Leroy Sané beat multiple Freiburg players on the right, played a one-two with Kane and slotted home for 2-0 from six metres out. A second goal from the German international was subsequently ruled out by VAR just before half time, with Sané being just a centimetre offside. It therefore remained at a two-goal deficit for SCF at the break.

Streich brought on Maximilian Philipp for Merlin Röhl for the second half and Lucas Höler played deeper to support with the defensive side of the game. This helped to make things more even and it took Bayern until the 68th minute to have another dangerous moment. Coman curled a shot just inches over the bar (68’). The Frenchman was then denied by Atubolu after a pass from Sané (71’).

Second goal for Bayern ruled out

SC also struggled to create chances in the second period, though Philipp Lienhart and his teammates kept things tight at the back. Substitute Mathys Tel had the ball in the back of the net with 77 minutes played, but the home fans knew he was offside from Coman’s pass. Midfielder Leon Goretzka then struck the post with a powerful strike (83’).

“The most important thing was that the team didn’t totally fall apart today,” said Christian Streich. “I don’t like to lose, but I can head home almost happy with the lads. We did all we could, but were simply without a chance tonight.”

The 75,000 supporters at the Allianz Arena saw two more goals scored in the final stages, albeit only one of them counted. Kingsley Coman’s deflected strike sealed the three points for the record champions (85’), before Kiliann Sildillia’s header was chalked off for offside (87’). Freiburg were at least able to hand Bundesliga debuts to Fabian Rüdlin and Maximilian Breunig late on in Munich.

Photo: Achim Keller