Jersey Swap: Karl Hein
The Arsenal loanee and Polish international had as good a day at the office as you can have in a 4-0 defeat on the road. Bayern put 13 shots on target and had 26 efforts at goal overall, and Hein did his part with eight saves. The Bavarians had just the one goal until a stoppage time penalty just before the break, and Hein played a big part in that with a few couple of saves. He denied Nico Jackson one-on-one late on for good measure, and the only times he got beat — well, there was little he could
do.
Der Kaiser: Dayot Upamecano
How important is Upamecano? The Frenchman’s contract situation looks uncomfortably uncertain with big clubs circling, but continues to look very much like the key member of Bayern’s backline. Upamecano is the guy who will launch bombs from the back and also get high and still have enough pace to track back and deal with opportunistic opponents trying to catch Bayern on the break. He didn’t have a lot to do, and sometimes that’s just a center-back doing his job with aplomb — ensuring a game in which his team is dominant and does not get derailed by some unnecessary drama.
Shout-out due: Konrad Laimer, who with Sacha Boey’s emergence on the right has simply slotted over to left-back. The man is a central midfielder, if he even remembers that, or at least he was before being dispatched from Valinor to rescue Bayern from its full-back troubles. That was a nice goal, too. Jonathan Tah…also got a goal? It barely looked goal-bound before ricocheting off Luis Díaz, but anyway, the new leadership council member still looks prone to a scary mistake or two in defense. Even today, though Bayern did not come too close to paying for it.
Der Fußballgott: Tom Bischof
Could write whole passages about the 20-year-old’s impressive start, which may have only come due to Joshua Kimmich’s illness.
In possession, Bischof was assertive and stable; crisp with his passing and sharp with his technique. He did all the little things, the subtle movements and the quick timing of his passes to be unpredictable enough to keep the ball circulating. In defense, he was on point — strong in challenges, smart in positioning, smooth without showboating. Flipping possession, turning defense into counters, rather than just being a guy to make clearances and scramble the ball away.
Not that there weren’t some ooh and aah moments, like how he casually nutmegged a challenger late on to find his full-back on the wing and get Bayern out of some pressure. But they were blink-and-you-miss-it.
Bischof played with a polish belying his years in his first Bayern start, and later on, he got to show his verve going forward too, with a few nice runs and a decent effort at goal. To punctuate it all? His patience and awareness in the construction of the fourth goal — holding, holding, holding after receiving from Konrad Laimer just enough to release Laimer on an underlapping run into the box.
Bischof did it all. He is looking like the real deal. Bayern — and Germany’s? — next midfield conductor.
Der Bomber: Luis Díaz
Díaz and Michael Olise both had solid games on either wing. More of Bayern’s attack went down the right side, but Díaz’s efforts both in and out of possession should not go unnoticed. He put in a real shift tracking back when necessary and being a defensive nuisance.
And, despite not being very involved in front of goal, he never rushed it or forced the shot when his chances did come — instead laying it off professionally for his teammates on multiple occasions late on, when the result already felt secure. Twice he drew traffic around him in or around the box just to release to a teammate to his right, and the second time it was a particularly skillful assist to squirt the ball square across to Harry Kane for him to take it in stride and finish.
Meister of the Match: Harry Kane
What more can you say? Mister Automatic strikes again. In 104 Bundesliga games, Kane has scored 100 goals, becoming the fastest player ever to hit that mark in a top five league this century.
It was actually rough in the early going, as the Englishman had some great opportunities that he might have done better with. But Kane was ultimately inevitable, grabbing a brace while popping up all over the pitch and generally carrying an unstoppable aura around him.
A lot of Bayern players performed well today…but Kane’s tenacious efforts and his unbelievably casual goal production is going to earn him another MOTM.
