Match awards from Bayern Munich’s 2-1 win over Schalke

Jersey Swap: So let’s get the easy one out of the way first, this award goes to Leon Goretzka. This was definitely not his best match, and aside from a few good through balls and one length of the field dribbling run Goretzka didn’t come close to dominating. However, neither did any other Schalke player and it can be argued that Goretzka was their best player on the day (with honorable mention to defender Benjamin Stambouli). Combining his play with the fact that Goretzka is performing a jersey swap to Bayern Munich in real life come July made him the obvious choice.

Tip of the Hat: Peter Hermann. With head coach Jupp Heynckes not on the sidelines due to illness it was assistant Peter Hermann that took the reigns. Heynckes views Hermann as an essential part of his staff and Bayern paid a reported record fee for an assistant to Fortuna Dusseldorf approximated at two million euros. To learn more about Hermann read this excellent article by Fussballstadt.

Golf Clap: Robert Lewandowski. The striker scored a with a poachers effort to put Bayern ahead 1-0 to mark his eleventh straight Bundesliga home game with a goal equalling the record set by, guess who, Jupp Heynckes!

Standing Ovation: The rumors of Arturo Vidal being the odd man out in Bayern’s midfield with the pending arrival of Goretzka next season are everywhere. Not that Vidal needs any added incentive to play with passion as he always works his tail off and does everything he can to help his team win - but this one had to feel good. Vidal was the most defensive of the Bayern midfielders today and he constantly thwarted the counter attacks of Schalke in the defensive third. He even added some extra mustard and earned himself a yellow card for an aggressive tackle on Goretzka. Welcome to Munich.

Meister of the Match: Thomas Müller. The captain’s influence started early on as it was his blast from distance (see above tweet) that Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann could only parry away for Lewandowski to calmly slot home. Then Müller finally catches some luck that seems to have been eluding him since the 2015/16 season - who knows if he really meant to sneak his game winning goal near post, completely fooling Fährmann, or if it was meant to be a cross.

It doesn’t matter. The ball went in and Bayern wins again marking Müller’s 200th Bundesliga win in his 275 matches played.