Bayern Munich reclaimed top spot in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win at Freiburg on Sunday, days after coach Vincent Kompany was hospitalised when he collapsed at training. The Bayern Freiburg 3-1 result moved Bayern ahead of Borussia Dortmund on goal difference, with both clubs on 17 points from seven games.
Bayern were missing several first-team players and Kompany, but they cruised to a two-goal lead at half-time with Dayot Upamecano and Serge Gnabry scoring. Freiburg pulled one back and were pushing for a point in stoppage time when goalkeeper Mio Backhaus was caught out up the field, allowing Michael Olise to slide the ball into an empty net.
Kompany remains in hospital and is being treated for a mystery virus, with Bayern saying on Saturday that the coach is likely to be out for days, not weeks.
How Bayern Freiburg 3-1 took shape
Bayern were in the unusual position of sitting back and absorbing pressure as Freiburg pushed, but they took the lead after 16 minutes when Upamecano started and finished a length-of-the-field counter. The France defender won possession near his own box, played a one-two with Olise before thundering goalwards and sending a cool shot past Backhaus.
Bayern doubled up just before the break when Gnabry latched onto a Nathaniel Brown pass and nutmegged Backhaus to score. The goal was Gnabry’s 100th in the Bundesliga, reached in his 267th league game.
“I just opened my phone to a message from Vince saying ‘well done’, and he was happy,” assistant coach Aaron Danks told DAZN. “I just replied saying ‘brilliant, now go rest’. I sent him a kissing emoji, so hopefully he rests up.”
Bayern sporting director Max Eberl gave an update on Kompany’s condition. “He is stable. He no longer has a headache. He is now undergoing a thorough examination. Everything is being handled,” he said. “There is no diagnosis, nothing final yet.”
Freiburg fight back before Olise settles it
With 10 minutes remaining, Harry Kane stung Backhaus’s palms from close range, and the hosts went on an immediate counter, forcing Tom Bischof into conceding an own goal. The goal sparked Freiburg to life, and Bayern keeper Jonas Urbig needed to make crucial saves from Igor Matanovic in the dying moments.
With Freiburg and Backhaus pushing high, Olise won possession and scored to wrap up the victory. Kane had a close-range effort saved late in the second half but failed to find the net a day before the Ballon d’Or ceremony in London, with the England captain among the favourites.
Bayern arrived in the Black Forest after a tumultuous few days which left them lacking leaders. With coach Kompany still in hospital after collapsing on Friday, Englishman Danks was in the dugout. The visitors were also without injured captain Manuel Neuer, Luis Diaz, Jamal Musiala, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Kim Min-jae, while midfielder and Germany captain Joshua Kimmich was on bereavement leave due to the sudden death of his father.
With victory, Bayern leapfrogged Borussia Dortmund to top the table ahead of the duo’s clash in Munich next week. Freiburg stayed third on 13 points despite the defeat.
Hoffenheim hit 1,000 mark against Leverkusen
Hoffenheim scored three goals in the final 11 minutes, including the 1,000th league goal in their history, as they snapped Bayer Leverkusen’s six-game winning streak with a 3-0 home victory.
Former Leverkusen forward Adam Hlozek rattled the post with 38 minutes gone. With the match headed for a scoreless draw, Leverkusen captain Edmond Tapsoba swept Fisnik Asllani’s ankle while defending a cross, and the referee pointed to the spot after a VAR review.
Andrej Kramaric’s 79th-minute penalty was the milestone goal and put Hoffenheim on track for victory. With Leverkusen pushing for an equaliser, Hoffenheim broke on the counter, and Alexander Prass scored, but he picked up a second yellow for removing his shirt in celebration before leaving the pitch, slapping himself on the forehead in dismay. Max Moerstedt added a third despite the one-man disadvantage in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Hoffenheim have now won three in a row.
Kompany’s hospital stay was covered in our report on Bayern saying Kompany is stable. Bayern’s European form was covered in our report on Arsenal against Bayern in the Champions League.
Source reporting: Dawn.
