Tag: Thomas Muller

Bayern showed up for Der Klassiker. Dortmund, not so much.

Dortmund’s wheels fell off after an unfathomable error from Gregor Kobel

Saturday’s Der Klassiker was supposed to be a truly big match. Borussia Dortmund has been giving Bayern Munich — who have won the last 10 Bundesliga titles — their first real race for first in years, and kicked today’s game off with a one-point lead atop the table.

Unfortunately for Dortmund, that was not even remotely reflected in an absolute nightmare of a game for them. Their former coach Thomas Tuchel’s new club capitalized on an astounding early error from from Gregor Kobel, going up 3-0 by the 23rd minute. The 4-2 final scoreline in Bayern’s favor flattered Dortmund in the end.

At home and under their own sort of pressure — very few teams would have fired Julian Nagelsmann while in a title race and having a perfect record in the Champions League — Bayern were in charge, but it still took one of the strangest errors the Bundesliga has seen in years to hand them a lead.

Dayot Upamecano, 11 yards inside his own half, saw a run from Leroy Sané in behind, and decided to try to play him behind. Sadly, the ball was overhit, skipping by Sané before the winger could get a touch. It happens, we know how this goes: ball rolls on, goalkeeper collects inside the box.

Kobel, apparently not being able to see that Sané was a good five yards from getting a touch, opted instead to charge out of his box and take an awkward swing at a clearance. That’s a bad choice, but it gets even worse when you see that his attempt to kick the ball included completely missing it.

Upamecano, therefore, got himself a goal from around 70 yards, while Kobel looked completely crestfallen at his involvement one of the strangest goals anywhere in the world.

From there, Dortmund completely unraveled. Thomas Müller struck for a five-minute brace, first touching Matthijs de Ligt’s header from a corner past Kobel in the 18th minute, and then tapping in a rebound after Kobel spilled Sané’s powerful shot from distance.

The halftime break didn’t fix much for Dortmund. In the 50th minute, Sané slashed inside against a hesitant defense before slipping a pass through several players that found Kingsley Coman for an emphatic finish.

Dortmund finally showed up for the game sometime around the hour mark, and the final score on the day will possibly obscure just how shambolic they were in the first 60 minutes. Emre Can buried a 72nd minute penalty, and Donyell Malen’s 90th minute goal made the loss look a little more like a normal road loss rather than a disaster.

The win takes Bayern two points ahead of Dortmund in the table, but the psychological side of things may end up making this a decisive result for both teams.

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WATCH: Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman’s jersey swap with FC Bayern’s Thomas Müller

#Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman represented the team at FC Bayern’s friendly with DC United on Wednesday, swapping jerseys with Thomas Müller.

Kansas City Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman had an opportunity to chop it up with some FC Bayern Munich players during a recent friendly match.

Hardman was at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, July 20, for the friendly match between FC Bayern and D.C. United. It’s the first of two friendly matches for the German soccer club as they participate in the Audi Summer Tour ahead of their season.

The game against D.C. United went about as you’d expect, with the Bundesliga team outclassing the MLS team and winning by a score of 6-2. After the game, Hardman had an opportunity to swap jerseys with FC Bayern’s Thomas Müller. Hardman presented Müller with his own custom Chiefs jersey featuring the No. 22 and Müller presented Hardman with a custom No. 22 FC Bayern kit which says “KC Chiefs” on it.

Hardman also had an opportunity to get pictures with a number of other FC Bayern players in the locker room after the game.

The Chiefs’ connection with FC Bayern stems from CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt. Hunt’s soccer team, FC Dallas, has had a player development partnership with FC Bayern since 2018. That relationship has extended to Kansas City, as the Chiefs were slated to host an FC Bayern match for the International Champions Cup in July of 2019 at Arrowhead Stadium. Unfortunately, that game had to be moved to a different location due to stadium renovations. The Chiefs also have FC Bayern board member Andreas Jung on their international expansion advisory board as they look to extend the franchise’s global reach into Germany.

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Robert Lewandowski adds UCL hat trick to his legacy as he takes Bayern Munich to new heights

Another all-time mark for Lewandowski as Bayern sets its sights high.

A prolific, almost prototypical striker, Robert Lewandowski is no stranger to scoring goals. And lots of them. Throughout his career with various Polish league teams, Borussia Dortmund and, of course, Bayern Munich, the Pole has racked the goals up–337, to be exact. His thriving as arguably the greatest soccer player in Polish history, and one of the best pure strikers the world has ever seen, is an outright certainty.

Lewandowski’s latest three back-netters–coming in an almost effortless hat trick unleashed upon RB Salzburg (+1150 consensus underdogs) in a 7-1 blowout during the Round of 16 of the Champions League–are another notch in his belt.

Sometimes, to accomplish anything, all you need is 23 minutes. That goes for watching a hit new episode of a show you love on TV, and for scoring hat tricks in one of the biggest soccer tournaments in the world.

Thankfully for Lewandowski, he can manage both taxing tasks.

While this mark is impressive given the number of legends that have played in the UCL, Lewandowski scoring goals fast and in bunches isn’t a surprise to anyone who’s paid attention to his career.

Like, when he scored five goals in nine minutes as a second-half sub in 2015:

It’s astonishing to consider that we’ve come to a point in Lewandowski’s extensive ledger of accomplishments where three UCL goals, in 23 minutes as a starter, almost pale in comparison to his previous footnotes. But that’s the sort of player Lewandowski has always been. He’s forever capable of more greatness with one good touch of the ball.

With this hat trick, Lewandowski now possesses seven straight 40-goal campaigns as a member of Bayern Munich–the most all-time in the Bundesliga.

Now Bayern’s all-time leading scorer in greater Europe, he’s also surpassed the hallowed Gerd Muller.

You know you’re a living legend when the photo of the player you’ve surpassed looks like it’s in standard definition with an unnatural light.

As he often does, Lewandowski presents a tempting prospect. On a squad always in the hunt for championships, and which might be playing for its second Champion League title in three years this spring, Lewandowski will be the straw that stirs the drink. In the last seven seasons, with Lewandowski leading the goal charge, Bayern has qualified for the semifinals of the Champions League five times while winning the whole dance in 2020. Unprecedented consistent excellence, even for the premier team in Germany.

It’ll be a tall order to overcome other giants like Liverpool and Man City when the Champions League resumes in early April. But if any team can do it, if Bayern can do it, it’ll be because they have Lewandowski — a scorer the likes of which we’ve never seen.

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