Reactions to Bayern Munich vs Mönchengladbach: Wagner in the form of his life, Hoeness blasts Bobic

Reactions to the match

From Abendzeitung and FCBayern.com

After Bayern Munich’s dominating victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach, Jupp Heynckes was full of praise for his players. Heynckes, who made seven changes to the team that saw off Sevilla last Wednesday, said that it is a great thing to see that even the players who rarely make it to the starting XI are playing really well.

We needed 20 minutes to find our way into the game today. We took control step-by-step and quickly equalized and took the lead. It was a commanding display with wonderful passing combinations, especially after the break. It’s positive that even the players who don’t play so often are highly motivated and play well.

Gladbach’s coach Dieter Hecking was vexed about his team’s performance as a whole. The former Wolfsburg manager admitted that Gladbach failed to defend well and let Bayern play:

I’m angry today. Everyone knows Bayern can always dominate their matches, but what happened after their third goal is unacceptable. We defended very poorly and just let them play. They played with spirit too, which we wanted to avoid. It simply wasn’t good enough today.

Christoph Kramer held his head high despite a devastating loss. The world champion said that Gladbach were bold and were in possession, though admitting that Bayern did a good job and it’s hard to defend when they play with full power:

We did a good job in the first 20 minutes. You have to play like that if you want to take points against Bayern: we were bold and were often in possession. I wish we’d kept going after conceding the first goal instead of dropping deeper. Bayern did a good job of course, it’s hard to defend then.

Sandro Wagner was perfectly happy about the team’s performance and shared his hopes of finding a spot in the national team as they fly to Russia in July for the World Cup:

It’s not so easy when you haven’t played for a while and then come in from outside. But we have high quality on the team. As a striker, even with few playing minutes you get chances. I can deal with the pressure really well, it drives me on, gives me wings. I’m in the form of my life and believe that I’ll be at the World Cup in Russia.

Uli Hoeneß had a great time watching Die Roten thrash Die Fohlen. The club president jested that the match must’ve been like Christmas and Easter at once for the fans:

At the moment we’re phenomenal in the league. We didn’t field our top eleven and outplayed Gladbach from the 20th minute. It’s incredibly fun, we have a very professional team, they play very seriously. The match must have been like Christmas and Easter at once for the spectators.

Uli struck back at Eintracht Frankfurt for being frustrated about Niko Kovac leaving the club. He said that the club should be relieved that they got to know it as soon as possible:

We’re a bit irritated because we talked about how to inform Frankfurt best, now or at the end of the season, which would have been possible too. And we said if we were in their situation we’d be interested in learning that we’ve lost our coach as soon as possible. This way perhaps they have four more weeks than they’d have at the end of the season. We’ve decided to do it as soon as possible. We don’t understand at all why they’re trying to make a boomerang out of this generous act.

The Match In Review:

Bayern Munich, who clinched their sixth consecutive Bundesliga title the previous week, continued their dominating league performance as they thrashed an ill-fated Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

The visitors took an early lead in the ninth minute when Josip Drmić found the target by dodging past Niklas Süle. Bayern restlessly looked for an equalizer as Thomas Müller fired the ball a bit too wide from Thiago Alcantara’s pass. It didn’t take the Bavarians too long to take the lead as Sandro Wagner hit the net twice in five minutes. The hosts were leading 2-1 as the whistle blew for halftime.

Sandro Wagner’s go at a hattrick was denied by Yann Sommer but the Bavarians were granted with another goal as Thiago took it from where Sandro had left his hopes for a hattrick. The cheerful crowd at the Allianz were delighted to see the champions seizing another three points as David Alaba scored a screamer from the edge of the box before Lewandowski’s final garnish to the scoop of goals.

The result takes Bayern onto 75 points from 30 matches. Heyckes and his boys will be back in action in just three days, as they face Bayer Leverkusen in the semi finals of the DFB cup.

Notable Numbers

1. Sandro Wagner bagged his first brace wearing Bayern trikot on Saturday. #WagnerLove!

2. Thomas Müller became the only player in the history of Bundesliga to register more than 10 assists in six seasons.

3. Robert Lewandowski made a jump in the all-time Bundesliga scorer rankings as he scored against Gladbach. He is now only one short of Stefan Kuntz. The Pole also advanced in the all-time rankings, lying fifth on 146 goals now.

4. Jupp Heynckes hit the Bundesliga record of 1034 games as player and coach as he walked into the Arena with his boys on Saturday.