Bayern Munich was held to a 0-0 in Gelsenkirchen against Schalke 04, dropping its first points of the season across all competitions. It’s a massive point for a Schalke side that had not taken points off of Bayern since 2017. Die Königsblauen managed to get their first point of the season, since returning to Germany’s top flight.
On the overall balance, Bayern dominated at the Veltins Arena, but just could not find the back of the net. The German Rekordmeister registered a total of 15 shots to Schalke’s
two, six of which were on target. They also had the lion’s share of possession at 74%, but were unable to convert that dominance into a goal and win. Luis Díaz, Harry Kane, Nathaniel Brown, and Ismael Saibairi all had credible chances in either half, but keeper Loris Karius, who was once a castaway on Liverpool’s squad, had one of the performances of his life.
Karius was officially named Man of the Match (via @iMiaSanMia), getting 68% of the votes via the Bundesliga app after he made a total of five saves in Schalke’s resilient effort to earn a hard fought point against Bayern. In particular, the keeper’s saves against Brown in the first half, and against Kane late in the second half stand out as acts that well and truly saved a point for Schalke.
Karius was also the clear favorite for Man of the Match as the next highest percentage of the votes went to Alphonso Davies at 9% and then Díaz at 8%, followed by Dayot Upamecano at 5%.
While it, in no way, should take away from Karius’ heroics or Schalke’s resolute defending, Vincent Kompany will perhaps be left to rue some of the rotations he made for his starting XI selection. Both Kane and Olise started from the bench and Jamal Musiala also made his return to the squad, but started from the bench. When both Kane and Olise had come on in the second half, there was a noticeable uptick in Bayern’s creativity in the final third, so there’s a case to be said that Bayern could’ve done enough to get the win had either player started from the get go. Karius still could’ve stood in the way of that from happening.
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