Hansi Flick, Leon Goretzka, Thomas Muller react to Bayern Munich’s 3-1 victory over VfB Stuttgart

Yet again, Bayern Munich was able to get three points on the road despite not performing anywhere near their best against VfB Stuttgart. Goals from Kingsley Coman (38’), Robert Lewandowski (45+1’), and Douglas Costa (87’) were enough to cancel out Tanguy Coulibaly’s opener in the 20th minute of play and keep Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga table.

Speaking after the match, Hansi Flick, Leon Goretzka, and Thomas Muller reflected on Bayern’s performance, all agreeing that the score line didn’t perhaps reflect the overall balance between the two sides (Tz).

For starters, Flick addressed the casualties Bayern suffered en route to the 3-1 win. Corentin Tolisso, Jerome Boateng, and Javi Martinez all looked to have picked up muscular problems.

“Tomorrow we will examine all the players. The doctors will let me know tomorrow. It looks like Coco Tolisso has a muscle injury. With Jerome you have to wait. Javi Martinez came in and also had an issue,” Flick said of his trio of players that sustained problems.

Hopefully it’s nothing serious for either of three problems, as they’ve all experienced injury problems already this season.

“We’ll wait and see what happens until tomorrow and then we’ll decide which squad to travel to Madrid with,” Flick said of the personnel decisions he’ll have to make next week.

Flick also highlighted the fact that Bayern made a handful of mistakes, which made life a bit more difficult than it needed to be.

“We all know that we are currently not getting a beauty award,” Flick remarked. “So, it was very important today that we got back into the game after falling behind and took the points with us to Munich. But we also know that we can play a lot better. I know that the team is at its limit right now.”

Misplaced passes, communication errors, and missed chances were just a number of areas where errors were made. It was a lazy pass in the attacking third from Bayern that caused them to lose possession and get caught out on a counter attack for Stuttgart’s goal in the 20th minute.

Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images

Goretzka praised his sides effort to fight back after going 1-0 down inside of the opening 20 minutes. He felt it was especially important considering Bayern was making mistakes that were causing dangerous situations for themselves.

“Chasing a deficit takes a lot of strength. That’s why you can classify the victory all the greater,” Goretzka said. “At the moment we’re just making too many mistakes and inviting our opponents to chances. But we also have the quality to score the goals.”

Muller took a few steps back to realize that Bayern is perhaps a bit lucky that their opponents have not made them pay more often for the mistakes they’ve been making. Other teams battling in the upper half of the Bundesliga table aren’t getting as lucky in that respect.

“If you look at the table, many would like to have our problems,” said Muller. “It’s not that great, but we have to live with that. If we give up one, then we just have to get two. That happens a lot and that’s why we are where we are. But, of course, that also worries us.”

Muller also comically compared the rugged pitch in Stuttgart to Stoke City’s Bet365 Stadium, but he didn’t exactly get the expression right: