Daily Schmankerl: Javi Martinez to stay at Bayern Munich?; the aftermath of Bayern vs. Hertha Berlin; Antonio Rüdiger leaving Chelsea?; and MORE!

Martinez to stay with Bayern? (Bild)

According to Sport Bild reporter Tobias Altschäffl, Javi Martinez leaving Bayern Munich might not be such a sure thing. In what was thought to be a foregone conclusion for most of 2020, the 32-year-old Spaniard could actually finish out the season in Germany. Altschäffl tweets:

Hansi Flick presumes that Martínez will still be at #fcbayern after the international break. The player can imagine that, too — despite all rumors of a transfer. @SPORTBILD

Altschäffl followed the original tweet up with a later version confirming his initial report:

With respect to Javi Martínez, everything currently points to his staying with Bayern until the end of the season and the end of his contract. @SPORTBILD @BILD_Sport

Die Folgen: Bayern’s 4-3 win over Hertha (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich survived a 4-3 scare over Hertha Berlin when Maximilian Mittelstadt could not hold Robert Lewandowski down...until he physically hauled the Polish Hitman to the ground. After gathering himself, the 32-year-old coolly deposited the ensuing penalty kick into the net to secure a hard-fought win. Here are some quick hitters on the match:

• Lewandowski was magnificent. So was Thomas Muller. That duo is just unreal.
• Muller’s disallowed goal in the 36th minute was a heartbreaker with replays showing he was offside by the slimmest of margins.
• Hertha Berlin’s Krzysztof Piątek was allegedly on the radar of Bayern Munich at one point, but the 25-year-old forward ended up bouncing around a bit until he ended up in Germany with Die Alte Dame. While he had a fantastic assist on Matheus Cunha’s 71st minute give-and-go goal, Piatek had some listless moments, which included losing his mark in front of his own net which could have resulted in a Bayern Munich goal and also a bout of indecision while holding the ball in his own offensive end. The Polish international will have to be more consistent if he wants more playing time under Bruno Labbadia.
• Terrific start for Chris Richards at right-back. It’s time to trust this kid. He’s ready and yes, he will have some learning moments, but he’s got a bright future ahead of him.
• Did anyone get the name of the sniper who took down Alphonso Davies in the 52nd minute?
• Hertha Berlin being this competitive is a very good thing for the Bundesliga. They will absolutely be a team to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
• A few of Bayern Munich’s back-liners struggled over the course of the game. While none were horrid, David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, and Davies (once he moved to left-back) struggled at times. It is not a reason to panic as of yet. Hansi Flick is doing a lot of mixing and matching with his defenders. There are clearly some cohesion issues at this point, but this will get better.
• For his part, Davies was very solid at wing, especially early in the match.
• Flick not watching Lewandowski’s game-winning penalty kick was kind of crazy.

If you missed our Observations or Match Awards, give them a look!

Richards getting it done (@BrianSciaretta)

If you missed Chris Richards’ assist (and the amazing Robert Lewandowski shot that followed), here you go:

Bundesliga scorers (@Bundesliga_EN)

This Bundesliga scoring race is going to be a lot of fun.

Hamburger Helper Help? (Bavarian Football Works)

You might think everything is footy related with BFW, but to show you how well-rounded the staff is, here’s a quick excerpt from our Slack channel discussion on Hamburger Helper. Apparently Marcus saw an episode of Fargo where a few characters were eating Hamburger Helper and not only did Marcus ask what the hell it was, but he also questioned the merits of Hamburger Helper itself.

As someone who grew up in middle class America, Hamburger Helper was a weekly staple (Don’t @ me! Both my parents worked and this was a convenient meal!).

Anyway, here’s how the conversation ended (I had to cut out the more “adult oriented” prelude):

So there you have it. Swedes do not get Hamburger Helper. Or at least Marcus doesn’t. Your move Betty Crocker...there is a market just waiting for you to penetrate it.

Okay, that sounded bad. Let’s just move on.

Did recruiter Rüdiger offer up a bait-and-switch? (Transfer Market Web)

German center-back Antonio Rüdiger allegedly played a role in recruiting both Timo Werner and Kai Havertz to Chelsea. Now, with the talented German newcomers in tow, Rüdiger might be plotting an exit from the club:

Still possibly parting ways with Chelsea, German international center-back Antonio Rüdiger has been picked by AC Milan as a backup last-minute target, in case Ozan Kabak doesn’t join in from Schalke 04. Meanwhile, former AS Roma player is still tracked by PSG and Tottenham.

Just last week, Rüdiger was linked to Tottenham Hotspur, while another report had both FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain allegedly interested in the 27-year-old.

Sweet! (@RIRoten)

This is cool:

So...do we go with Sons of Hansi or Manuel’s Angels? I’m getting Ineednoname one of these bad boys and putting a 1%-er patch on it so people know who they are messing with. Like they say, 99% of Bayern Munich fans are good people, the other 1% will rally the Muller Mafia after you on a whim!

A New Nickname for our Polish Ace

You know...

Robert Lew4nGOALski...

And Leroy Sané was rather impressed as well: