Match Awards from Bayern’s 3-2 win over Olympiacos (updated)

Tip of the Cap: Serge Gnabry

Even though he was not on the score sheet, Gnabry produced offensive threats from both the left and the right flanks. He is continually proving himself to be among Bayern’s most essential players and with the long term loss of Niklas Süle and the anticipated loss of Lucas Hernandez extensively, his offensive and creative skills will be relied upon even more so.

Golf Clap: Joshua Kimmich

Although Kimmich had a couple of missed clearances defensively, he was not a liability tonight. He was far from his elite self in his return to right-back, but he proved to be a solid, if not essential leader, for a back line that abruptly lost Süle and Hernandez in back to back games. He’s everything you needed him to be. Effective in defense and creative in offense. This is why he belongs at right-back.

Standing Ovation: Thiago

He proved to not be a liability tonight, which itself is worthy of the standing ovation. Was he magical tonight? No. Was he bad, though? Also no. He made the passes he needed to make and was a steady presence in the midfield, given the fact Javi was uncharacteristically bad during the first half. His ship eventually evened during the second half with CoCo Tolisso next to him.

Meister of the Match: Robert Lewandowski

He was there when we needed him. Robert Lewandowski continues his insane goal-scoring record literally every single match this season for Bayern by scoring 2 tonight vs Olympiacos. If there is anyone hotter on the face of the earth, I’ve yet to find him. I’m beyond glad he’s a Red.

On second thought...

It turns out that watching in a pub in Germany is a lot more challenging than I expected. After going back and rewatching, here’s what I’d change:

Golf Clap: Joshua Kimmich & Thiago

Although Kimmich had a couple of missed clearances defensively, he was not a liability tonight. He was far from his elite self in his return to right-back, but he proved to be a solid, if not essential leader, for a back line that abruptly lost Süle and Hernandez in back to back games. He’s everything you needed him to be. Effective in defense and creative in offense. This is why he belongs at right-back. The same goes for Thiago who failed to commit any errors & was generabbly reliable in midfield. He did struggle with javi being uncharacteristically sloppy but was able to right the ship when CoCo was brought in for Javi.

Standing Ovation: Thomas Müller

With two assists for the match, Müller well earned his start during Olympiacos. He seemed to connect well with Coutinho and was responsible for quite a bit of the offensive output during the game vs Olympiacos. This is the Müller we all know and love. Hopefully it means that we will be seeing more of this combination in the midfield.