Decimated by the Covid, Bayern lose at home against Mönchengladbach

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Nine players affected by the Covid, the camera, the snow on Munich … It was a bit too much for Bayern, who lost at home 2-1 against their pet peeve Mönchengladbach, Friday January 7, in opening of the 18th Bundesliga matchday, despite a new goal from Robert Lewandowski.

Before the weekend’s games, the Bavarians remain in the lead with nine points ahead of their runner-up Dortmund. But the latter can get closer if he takes points on Saturday on the lawn of the 6th, Frankfurt (6.30 p.m.).

Mönchengladbach, who in October caused the sensation of the season when he left the German Cup “Rekordmeister” 5-0, repeated the feat, thanks to Florian Neuhaus and Stefan Lainer. In the first leg in August, the “Colts” had already forced the Munich stars to a 1-1 draw.

In their defense, the Bavarians had to face a more than exceptional situation. Coach Julian Nagelsmann had no choice: deprived of a total of 12 players from his pro workforce, he tinkered with a team with the survivors, some without playing time, others just back from a long absence , like Joshua Kimmich, who hadn’t played since November 6 after repeated quarantines.

Only the attack looked great, with Thomas Müller, Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala. But the sideline was a baroque selection of the eight best field players from the reserve and the U19s.

Oliver Kahn, the club boss, blamed fatality on the slaughter of positive cases: “Before Christmas, we had stepped up our preventive measures against Covid”, he assured, “and what is happening now is not a cluster within the team, it is players who have returned contaminated from their winter holidays”.

The defending champions got off to a good start, however, and Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 18th minute with an unstoppable 15-meter shot, after eliminating his defender with sumptuous control oriented in the middle of the race. But Mönchengladbach gradually took control, and was rewarded with two goals before the break. International Florian Neuhaus equalized (27th) following a poor collective defense from Bayern. And Stefan Lainer logically gave the advantage to Borussia with an uncrossed header from a corner (2-1, 31st). Bayern, much more aggressive in the second half, had several opportunities to equalize. Lewandowski hit the post (45th + 2), then the cross (62nd), before failing goalkeeper Yann Sommer (78th), just like Müller (59th) and Kimmich (60th).

A record was also broken at the Allianz Arena: Paul Wanner, who turned 16 on December 23, became the youngest player in Bayern Munich’s history to enter the Bundesliga on Friday.

He came into play in the 75th minute, at 16 years and 15 days, largely beating the youth record of Jamal Musiala, who had started in the jersey of the “Rekordmeister” at 17 years and 115 days. The Bundesliga record belongs to Youssoufa Moukoko (Dortmund), who made his debut at 16 and one day in 2020.


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