PLAYER RATINGS | Augsburg 1-3 Bayern Munich | OneFootball

A Bavarian derby to kick off Matchday 28, with league leaders Bayern Munich travelling to an Augsburg side who were on the rise.

Bayern struggled, and that is more of a testament to the work that Augsburg head coach Jens Thorup has done in this calendar year. Not only were the hosts defensively solid, but they also took the game to Bayern, whether that came to pressing high or being bold in their attacking play. After a brief spell where Bayern looked dangerous in the opening spells of the game, Augsburg were rarely troubled.

Samuel Essende would have a shot just miss the post, but it would be a clever, quick free-kick routine that saw Jeffery Gouweleeu play a ball into the box, which was hit on the volley by Dimitrious Giannoulis to give Augsburg the lead. Bayern continued to look uncomfortable and lost at points for most of the half and needed some Musiala Magic to bail them out. The 21-year-old scored an unlikely goal on the turn and through an array of bodies after good work from Leroy Sané.

Bayern were better in the second half, but their half got off to the worst possible way when Musiala had to go off with what seemed like a hamstring injury and will most definitely keep him out of the Champions League game against Inter in midweek.

Then what will be the controversial matter to come out of the game, Augsburg defender Cedric Zesiger would be sent of for a second yellow, for a challenge that was not deserving of a yellow, but as it was a yellow, VAR could no intervene. Bayern would then score from the resultant free-kick after a well whipped ball by Michael Olise was met by the head of Harry Kane. The red ruined any sort of competitiveness in the game as it meant that Augsburg could no long be adventurous and had to drop deep and ultiamelty that made the game comfortable for Bayern as they would score right at the end to ensure that there would be no late slip up.

Bayern were once again rather unconvincing in their performance, just like last week against St.Pauli. The injuries are clearly not helping, but it does seem that they are just limping to the finish line with how they have been performing in recent weeks. The red card, as mentioned, definitely helped them this evening in avoiding a banana skin. What will also be important is the severity of the injury to Jamal Musiala, if he is to miss an extended period of time, things could become a lot more ‘sqweeky bum time’ for Bayern.

Augsburg:

Finn Dahmen (6), Chrislain Matsima (6), Jeffery Gouweleeu (5), Cedric Zesiger (4), Marius Wolf (5), Frank Onyeka (5), Kristijan Jakic (6), Dimitrious Giannoulis (6), Fredrik Jensen (5), Alexis Claude-Maurice (5), Samuel Essende (5)

Others: Elvis Rexhbecaj (5), Keven Schlotterbeck (5), Phillip Tietz (5), Mergim Berisha (-), Mert Kömur (-)

Bayern Munich:

Jonas Urbig (5), Konrad Laimer (5), Min-Jae Kim (5), Eric Dier (5), Josip Stanisic (5), Joshua Kimmich (5), João Palhinha (5), Michael Olise (7), Jamal Musiala (7), Leroy Sané (6), Harry Kane (6)

Others: Thomas Müller (5), Serge Gnabry (5), Gabriel Vidovic (-), Raphaël Guerreiro (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Michael Olise (7)

Along with the pro Minecraft stream come Bundesliga and German national team striker Tim Kleindienst, Michael Olise is one of, if not the signing of the season in the Bundesliga. He has brought a different dynamic to Bayern’s attack and offers a different outlet to Jamal Musiala. His deadball technique is also valuable, especially when you have Harry Kane trying to take every free-kick within the sight of goal (he has been trying this since 2016, its time to stop).

If Musiala’s injury is significant, Olise will need to step up once again.

GGFN | Jack Meenan