Bayern set record, go 37 matches unbeaten in win over Augsburg

In the span of two separate Bundesliga seasons, FC Bayern have not lost in 37 matches. Their last defeat was at home to Bayer Leverkusen in a match where Bayern were the better team but conceded two fair, albeit against the run of play goals to B04. Others will remember it for being the match in which Manuel Neuer played left winger for stoppage time- and nearly caused the equalizer.

The equivalent of an entire Bundesliga year plus three matches has passed and Bayern haven't lost since, and have only come close about two or three times.

Today was not a candidate for a loss from the very beginning.

One of the major things that has changed from last season to this season (or from Jupp to Pep) has been the team's success with set pieces. At times last year, the running joke was to immediately discount any Bayern corner and expect it to result in a counterattack by the opponent rather than a chance for the Reds. Now, Bayern score them routinely and today's match was a glistening example.

To create the match's first corner, an offside (well we know that now) Mario Mandzukic's attempt was thwarted by Augsburg's Marvin Hitz in goal, which left Javi Martinez alone with the ball but his speculative effort from distance was also tipped by Hitz.

The resulting corner was headed down by Dante to the feet of Boateng, who took a touch to the outside where it looked like he has going to either regroup the attack with a pass back outside the penalty box, or send in a cross.

He did neither.

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A quick turn to his right and he swung his pendulum of a left foot hard enough to send a shot from a very tight angle to the par post side-netting, a goal that had Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rumminegge giddy with excitement in the Tribüne, no doubt recalling similar goals scored by themselves in decades past.

The rest of the half was played at a high tempo which managed to lend itself to the odd Augsburg counterattack, but they weren't particularly threatening at any given time.

via i.imgur.com

As the half was drawing to a close, Franck Ribery was taken down outside of the box and elected to take the resulting free kick himself, three minutes before time.

Europe's Footballer of the Year sent a missile past everyone to the upper corner of the near post that looked likely to burst a hole in the net. No Augsburg defender nor the goalkeeper had a chance and Bayern were now cruising.

The second half was a rather uneventful affair, Bayern holding on to loads of possession, amassing 72% of it by match's end.

They got a third seconds from time when substitute Thomas Müller's cross towards another sub, Arjen Robben, was judged to have been handed in the box by FCA's Matthias Ostrzolek. The resulting penalty was scored by Müller, to put the icing on the cake that was this home performance after Tuesday's rocky Champions League showing.

Next up for most of these players is international duty. After that, Bayern play rivals Borussia Dortmund in their return to Bundesliga play on 23 November.

Dortmund lost today to VfL Wolfsburg meaning Bayern are now 4 points clear atop the Bundesliga table.