Match awards from FC Bayern’s 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt

It was a defensive struggle between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Park. For 70 minutes both teams kept each other at an arm’s length as both had near misses that could have been the opener. Luckily for Bayern, Julian Nagelsmann made the right change — bringing on Sane as the first sub. One Bayern goal was enough for the Rekordmeister to to head back to Munich with the full three points. Here are our match awards:

Jersey Swap: Kevin Trapp

The Frankfurt keeper kept a clean sheet against Bayern for 70 minutes, and kept them in it even after the conceded goal. Bayern forced Trapp into making multiple saves in on attacking phase on many occasion, but Trapp stood tall and did what he needed to do to keep a Bayern player from getting on the end of a rebounded ball. The best example came in the first half when Coman rocketed a shot off of Trapp’s face. Trapp also did well a few times to save a Lewandowski shot from areas where Lewy would normally easily score.

Der Bomber: Leroy Sane

As the score remained 0-0, I think most people were wondering why he hadn’t seen Leroy Sane yet. While I think the sub came much too late — as I personally would have liked to see him come on at halftime — Nagelsmann got it right. Just four minutes after entering the match, Sane was finally able to break the deadlock. After receiving a beautiful pass from Kimmich, Sane patiently dribbled and slotted the ball past Trapp for the match’s lone goal. Sane was also brilliant after his goal. As Bayern tried to dispel pressure and break away, Sane made some great passes to put his teammates off and running.

Fußballgott: Marcel Sabitzer

This was hard to decide between Sabitzer and Musiala (see below as to why Kimmich didn’t win this award.) Musiala had some flashes of brilliance throughout the match, but was mostly sloppy. While we didn’t see anything breathtaking from Sabitzer’s play, he was a consistent force in the midfield and helped sure up the defense in front of the back-four. Although the Sane substitution provided the winning goal, I think Bayern missed Sabitzer in those last 20 minutes. I think that it could have been a less chaotic finish, had the Austrian still been on the field.

Der Kaiser: Niklas Süle

Similar to the midfielders, this was a tough decision. However, this one was the better problem to have, as I think that any of the four could have won this award today. Süle is making Bayern rethink their actions — or lack thereof — that have led to Süle leaving this summer. Not only did he do a great job of chasing down the balls that were sent over the top of Frankfurt’s attack, he also had a great match passing. He recorded the most accurate passes (112) and the highest accuracy (92%) of either team, all while also recording a key pass.

Meister of the Match: Joshua Kimmich

Kimmich had one of his best matches since recovering from his long bout with Covid-19. He was immaculate on both sides of the ball and looked to be about everywhere on the pitch at the same time. Kimmich had two shots on goal from distance, both of which troubled Trapp and forced him to scramble to recover the rebound. His distribution was also amazing, recording five key passes including his brilliant assist on Sane’s goal. Along with Sabitzer, he worked to lock down the midfield, causing Frankfurt to try to bypass them with the long ball. Overall, a great night from the German international led Bayern to take all three points home.

If you’re looking for more analysis of the game, why not check out our postgame podcast? Listen to it below or at this link.

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