Match awards for Bayern Munich’s 4-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld

Bayern Munich came out quick and strong against recently promoted Arminia Bielefeld. An 8th minute goal from Muller and two from Lewandowski highlighted a dominant first half from Bayern. After halftime, Muller got his brace, but Bayern seemed to let up a little bit. Doing so cost them a Bielefeld goal and Tolisso red card. All in all, Bayern won comfortably and move one point off the top of the table. Here are our match awards.

Jersey swap: Ritsu Doan

After coming to Bielefeld on loan from PSV Eindhoven, Doan scored his first Bunedesliga goal against the German Rekordmeister today. Just when we thought that Bayern were going to run away with it, Doan slotted a perfect ball into the far corner, just beating Neuer for the goal. This switched the momentum of the game and gave Bielefeld some hope.

Der Bomber: Robert Lewandowski

Lewy did today what he always does: score goals! He probably could have had a first half hat trick had it not been for some timely defending and the pesky crossbar. He and Muller were in sync today, each assisting each other one time. The thing that stood out the most to me was that his two goals were not just poacher’s goals that need to be simply tapped in. Both required him to square up and beat the keeper, even if his second goal came off a deflection.

Fußballgott: Leon Goretzka

Goretzka was a key part of Bayern’s game today. He played box to box and was effective on both sides of the ball. He singlehandedly created Lewandowki’s first goal. After picking up a loose ball on the sideline, Goretzka dribbled into the box to find a wide open Lewandowski sitting at the top of the box. Goretzka laid it off to Lewandowski, who smashed it into the back of the net. The German also made some key interceptions, which stopped any chance of a Bielefeld attack.

Der Kaiser: Lucas Hernandez

Hernandez also played well on both sides of the ball. He had a couple chances to contribute on the attack, but wasn’t quite able to connect with a teammate for get a good shot off. Hernandez also helped shore up the back line of defense. The Frenchman recorded a blocked shot, a clearance, and an interception. Overall a great way to show that he deserves minutes at left-back, even if he is competing with Alphonso Davies for minutes.

Meister of the match: Thomas Muller

Picking between Lewandowski and Muller was not easy. Both scored two goals and both recorded an assist. However, Muller gets the nod tonight for his creativity and drive throughout the entire 90 minutes. Muller got Bayern going with an early goal which came after he followed up on his original blocked shot and hit the rebound into the back of the net. After assisting Lewy on the goal to end the half, the two swapped roles early in the second half as Lewandowski drove a ball into the box and Muller hit it nicely into the goal.

Muller never quit in this game. He was still making runs and trying to feed balls into the box well into latter stages of the game. Maybe this was his way of telling the German National Team that he has still got it.