After SC Freiburg went up 2-0 early in the first half, it looked like Bayern Munich might be in for a tough afternoon at the Allianz Arena, but that was far from the case for the Bundesliga champions.
After finding themselves 2-0 down through two corner kicks from the visitors within the opening 20 minutes, Bayern fought back to make it 2-2 before the halftime interval with goals from Lennart Karl (22’) and Michael Olise (45+2’), both of whom assisted one another. The pair of goals spurred on what was a dominant second half from Vincent Kompany’s side.
Unanswered goals from Dayot Upamecano, Nicolas Jackson, Harry Kane, and another from Olise saw that the German Rekordmeister cruised to a 6-2 victory on a night where Kompany was able to give some of his key players a bit of a rest ahead of the Arsenal clash in the Champions League next week.
In the 71st minute, there was some cause for concern when Karl pulled up with an apparent knock and was thus replaced by Jackson. He had been having an excellent match up until he was replaced, but after the match, board member for sport Max Eberl thankfully provided a positive update on the 17-year-old, saying his problem was “nothing bad” when he was asked about it in the mixed zone (@iMiaSanMia).
Eberl was also asked about Serge Gnabry, who was not in the squad for the win over Freiburg due to an injury he sustained while on duty with Germany during the international break. Eberl said that “we’re [Bayern] optimistic” about Gnabry being fit on time to face Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side in the Champions League. He last started for Bayern in the 2-2 draw at Union Berlin before the international break and also started both of Germany’s World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia during the international break that secured Die Mannschaft’s direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
Kompany will likely need to call on both Karl and Gnabry in the lineup vs. Arsenal since Luis Diaz was handed a three-match suspension for the red card he picked up for his challenge on Achraf Hakimi during the 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
