Match awards from Bayern's close 3-2 win against Dortmund

Nearly a year on since Hansi Flick's first game in charge of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, the two rivals met once again for the all important Der Klassiker fixture. Borussia Dortmund created some fine chances but failed to be as clinical as their opposition were. Despite posing a lot of danger to the backline of Bayern, the Dortmund attack ultimately fell short, being unable to beat the reigning champions. Here are the match awards:

Jersey Swap: Erling Haaland

Had the Dortmund attack provided Haaland with more support, the scoreline would have been completely different. The 20 year-old repeatedly got himself into threatening positions and sent the ball across the face of the goal waiting to be tapped in. Unfortunately for the home side, they never managed to overload the box or get an extra body in attack to support young Norwegian.

After coming close on a couple of occasions and missing the target, Haaland finally got his goal in the 83rd minute. Not a pretty outing if you went by his stats, but one that could have been very very dangerous had his teammates managed to get across to his layoffs throughout the game.

Der Bomber : Thomas Müller

Thomas Muller was his usual roaming Raumdeutering self again. Loudly commanding and co-ordinating the Bayern press from the front, Müller was a vital part of nearly all the successful stretches of play Bayern had strung together in the evening. Keeping the Dortmund defence busy, Müller managed to draw a lot of their attention right from the start, opening up pockets of space for Bayern to exploit. He registered a total of 6 chances created while completing 3 of his 4 dribbles attempted.

His highlight of the game however came just before half-time when Bayern scored an exquisite free kick right out of the training ground experiments book. Muller's excellent first touch laid the ball perfectly for David Alaba to score the important equaliser just before half-time.

Fußballgott : Leon Goretzka

After Joshua Kimmich's unfortunate injury, Goretzka saw his share of defensive duties go up. Leon however rose to the occasion and owned the midfield. His sheer physical presence coupled with his keen awareness to make important interceptions saw Leon make a total of 9 recoveries. Leon harassed the opposition players and pounced upon them when he saw just a sliver of a chance to steal the ball.

In all, Leon made 4 interceptions and won 3 out of his 3 tackles attempted. A very tidy performance from the 25 year-old that could have been topped off with a goal from that early header driven straight into Roman Burki's gloves.

Der Kaiser : Lucas Hernandez

Photo by Lars Baron/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images

Lucas Hernandez is slowly but surely showing everyone why exactly Hansi Flick will have a headache when Alphonso Davies returns from injury. The Frenchman has quietly been adding consistent performances. Coming up against one of the best and most sort after talents in Europe in Jadon Sancho, Lucas just stuffed Sancho in his pockets. The former Atleti man almost completely cut off the supply from Dortmund's right wing. Mats Hummels preferred the easier option and repeatedly played the long diagonal balls to Gio Reyna instead of Sancho.

Against robust opposition in Axel Witsel, Thomas Delaney and Thomas Meunier, Lucas did superbly to hold his own and win important duels against them. He proved to be a stronghold for Bayern on the left, winning 8 duels out of the 12 he was involved with. Despite not being a towering figure, Lucas managed to dominate his aerial duels too, winning 3 out of the 4 attempted. Sweetening this excellent defensive performance was his contribution in attack with a fine cross to assist Robert Lewandowski for Bayern's second goal.

Meister of the Match: Robert Lewandowski

The big Pole would have had another hattrick to his name but for two of his three goals to be disallowed by VAR. Lewy's fırst disallowed goal was an excellent sliding finish off a Gnabry cross that was offside by barely an inch. His second however was a sublime glancing header off of a good cross from Lucas Hernandez. The second goal was important to ease the pressure on Bayern while also forcing Dortmund to attack and commit mistakes while doing so.

Despite having a goal and an assist, this was far from 32 year-old's best performances. He had a hard time with duels, winning just 6 out of the 17. But Lewy showed up when the team needed him to score and give Bayern the lead at an important stage in the game. The machine keeps going!