Saturday’s match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the top two sides in the Bundesliga, was billed as the German clasico. But ultimately, the match failed to impress, as Bayern trotted out the easy winners. The loss pushes Dortmund down to third, seven points behind the league leaders.
The first half gave the hosts a bit of hope. Dortmund, struggling with a makeshift back line that missed Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer and Neven Subotic , still managed to engage their potent attack. However, they just couldn’t seem to threaten Manuel Neuer. Robert Lewandowski, apparently trying not to anger his future team, sent his attempt in the third minute too high. Jakub Blaszczykowski forced a vital block by David Alaba, and followed it up with another attempt. Neuer’s only real work came in stopping a shot from Marco Reus, who was, curiously, allowed to wander freely.
Bayern had the best chance of the half in the 37th minute. Arjen Robben played a lovely ball across the six-yard box for Mario Mandzukic, who’d already forced Roman Weidenfeller into a save earlier in the match. But this time, the Croatian just couldn’t get a good shot in, and the visitors’ chance went begging.
Early in the second half, Pep Guardiola chose to bring off Mandzukic and introduce Mario Götze. This, you might imagine, caused quite a stir at the Westfalenstadion. Götze certainly didn’t endear himself to the Dortmund supporters when, after coming up through the youth system and spending four seasons on the senior BVB side, he made the move to Bayern Munich -- for a whole lotta Euros, of course.
And no, the fact that he did not celebrate when scoring for the visitors didn’t make the infamous Dortmund support love him again. For the neutrals, though, it was a fine goal: a little poke on from a ball from Thomas Müller. You might wonder why Götze was left with so much space to make that finish, but then you’ll remember the shambles that is the Dortmund defense.
Jurgen Klopp made a couple of changes shortly after the goal, hoping to introduce a bit more oomph in the attack. Jonas Hofmann came on for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replaced Blaszczykowski. Moments later, Marco Reus got on the end of a Lewandowski flick, firing his shot low. But Neuer managed a fantastic save to keep Bayern in the lead.
And ultimately it was Bayern who scored the second. And the third. With just five minutes to go, a chipped shot from Arjen Robben, possibly intended for Götze, found its way into the back of Weidenfeller’s net. But that wasn’t enough for Guardiola’s men. Müller put in a third just two minutes later, getting on the end of a ball from Philipp Lahm to finish off Dortmund.
Bundesliga Results -- through Saturday evening
Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3 Schalke 04
Hertha Berlin 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Nurnberg 1-1 Wolfsburg
Braunschweig 0-1 Freiburg
Augsburg 2-0 Hoffenheim
Stuttgart 0-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach