PLAYER RATINGS | Bayern Munich 4-0 Eintracht Frankfurt – Jamal Musiala back on track | OneFootball

Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich rolled over Dino Toppmöller’s Eintracht Frankfurt with a 4-0 win at the Allianz this afternoon. The win restores an eight point cushion at the top of the table for the league leaders, who now inch closer to the Bundesliga title.

The two teams both lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, though Bayern’s shape featured an obvious stagger at the top axis. Jamal Musiala worked as a flexible service striker behind Thomas Müller. Eintracht clearly aimed to keep a compact contour with strict man marking aimed at disrupting Bayern’s build-up play. Some disorganisation characterised the opening ten minutes.

In his second start for Bayern, defender Hiroki Ito showed some rust in losing possession in the 6th minute. This led to SGE striker Hugo Ekitiké getting a chance. Ito redeemed himself at the other end three minutes later, setting up a chance for Olise via Müller in the 9th minute. After the two sides traced early chances, the match settled into a more regular rhythm.

While there weren’t always scoring chances, the two sides kept matters mostly entertaining throughout the opening 45. Bayern unquestionably dominated. The Bavarians consistently maintained over 60 percent possession. FCB approach play – aided by a weak Eintracht press – contained an appropriate mixture of safe ball distribution and calculated risk.

Musiala (15th, 32nd), Leroy Sané (22nd), and Müller (29th) missed great chances to score. Frankfurt’s attempts to counter attack, through Can Uzun on the right and Ansgar Knauff on the right, showed some potential. In the end, however, the two young Germans couldn’t find the right kind of precision to make it count.

An injury to Joshua Kimmich altered matters shortly before half-time. Kimmich’s long term partner and close colleague Leon Goretzka came on to pair alongside Aleksandar Pavlovic. One could immediately discern that Goretzka would function more as an eight whilst Pavlovic directed traffic from a deeper position. The record champions took full advantage of Frankfurt’s attempts to adjust.

Musiala took Sané with him on the left in the third minute of stoppage time in the first half. Sané then crossed in for Olise, poorly marked by a confused Nnamdi Collins. Olise easily slotted home the game’s opening goal; a very much deserved 1-0. A couple of SGE counter chances involving Uzun occurred before the six minutes of injury time elapsed. Again, the Frankfurt youngster just couldn’t find the final ball.

Toppmöller made two like-for-like swaps at the half. Veteran midfielder Elyes Skhiri replaced Oscar Højlund. New January addition Elye Wahi came on for the ineffective Uzun. Wahi’s introduction yielded little apart from a pair of blocked shots. Müller and Musiala, by contrast, continued to look creative and sharp on the charge. This nevertheless yielded little in the way of scoring chances as well.

The decisive moment came in the 61st minute when SGE keeper Kevin Trapp made an error on a corner. Trapp flapped at an Olise service from the right. The Eintracht keeper could do little about an Eric Dier header that – via a deflection off Rasmus Kristensen – landed at Ito’s feet. Ito nevertheless had an easy finish into an empty net with Trapp flailing out-of-position after his failed punch.

A hail of substitutions from both coaches – along with plenty of interruptions – impeded the flow for a time. Beyond a monster miss from Sané in the 78th minute, nothing much of consequence happened. Musiala heaped more misery on Eintracht in the 83rd minute with a solo run, taking on four players before scoring Bayern’s third, despite actually losing the ball against Tuta and hitting the deck.

Frankfurt effectively gave up after the third goal. Harry Kane (on in the 64th minute) did plenty to put his stamp on the game with tons of deep drops on the ball. FCB subs Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry combined to score Bayern’s fourth in stoppage time. SGE keeper Kevin Trapp completed a largely poor afternoon by allowing Gnabry to complete a nutmeg finish on the final goal.

Bayern Munich Player Ratings

In large part, Kompany’s initial XI played well. Musiala brushed off his form dip showed plenty of creative spark from the beginning. The legendary “Radio Müller” floated all around the pitch, engaging his teammates with plenty of good work with both his feet and his mouth. Pavlovic filled in for Kimmich effectively. Sané and Olise could have worked their rotations a bit better and there were some finishing errors from both FCB wingers.

One can question Kompany’s decision to introduce Kane so late in the match when the Englishman is struggling with injury. In any event, Kane looked to be fit in his shift. Goretzka did well to draw coverage. Davies wasn’t much of a factor. Coman and Gnabry earn marks due to their involvement in the final goal.

Manuel Neuer (5), Hiroki Ito (6), Min-Jae Kim (5), Eric Dier (6), Konrad Laimer (5) Aleksandar Pavlovic (8), Joshua Kimmich (6), Leroy Sané (6), Jamal Musiala (9) Michael Olise (8), Thomas Müller (7)

Substitutes: Leon Goretzka (6), Alphonso Davies (5), Harry Kane (7), Kingsley Coman (7), Serge Gnabry (7)

Eintracht Frankfurt Player Ratings

Assigning grades to the Eintracht XI proves difficult as – with the exception of Collins and Larsson – mostly everyone played a decent first half. Rasmus Kristensen and Tuta unfortunately tanked hard toward the end. Skhiri and Mario Götze weren’t terrible off the bench, though both made mistakes.

Kevin Trapp (3), Arthur Theate (4), Tuta (5), Rasmus Kristensen (5), Nnamdi Collins (4), Oscar Højlund (5), Hugo Larsson (5) Ansgar Knauff (6), Jean-Manuel Bahoya (4) Hugo Ekitiké (5), Can Uzun (5)

Substitutes: Elyes Skhiri (6), Elle Wahi (5), Mario Götze (6), Nathaniel Brown (-), Michy Batshuayi (-)

GGFN Man of the Match: Jamal Musiala (9)

Long before the young German phenom scored the goal that put the game to bed, this author began composing a section that accorded Musiala the MOTM award. One could simply tell from the beginning that this match would be different for the 21-year-old. With every touch, it seemed that Musiala was growing in confidence. The youngster who seems destined for historic greatness kept taking on more players with each dribble.

The third goal made the confirmation easy. The youngster went on six long dribbles and 25 sprints. He completed 86 percent of his passes and assisted on two shots. He led the team with 72 touches. It very much appears as if Musiala’s stated desire to learn and improve from his recent form dip was much more than mere lip service. Excellent performance from the future legend today.

GGFN | Peter Weis