Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern Munich tenure started with a resounding 4-2 victory over rivals Borussia Dortmund at Allianz Arena.
Tuchel replaced Julian Nagelsmann during the international break, and his first game at the helm saw him tasked with shifting his former club Dortmund from top spot in the Bundesliga.
It was a fantastic start for Tuchel on the other side of the Klassiker rivalry, with Gregor Kobel’s calamity and Thomas Muller’s double putting Bayern 3-0 up inside 23 minutes.
Kingsley Coman nudged Bayern further ahead, though Emre Can’s penalty and Donyell Malen’s neat finish somewhat reduced the embarrassment for Dortmund, who lost in the league for the first time since November.
Bayern took the lead in bizarre fashion.
Dayot Upamecano’s long throughball was seemingly running straight through to Kobel, but Dortmund’s goalkeeper opted to try and boot it upfield, only to miscue, inadvertently sending the ball skimming into his own goal.
It was 2-0 just five minutes later, Matthijs de Ligt nodding a corner into the path of Muller, who stabbed home from close range.
Another Kobel blunder gifted Bayern a third โ Muller on hand to tuck in the rebound after Leroy Sane’s strike had been parried out.
Coman extended the lead in the 50th minute, latching onto Sane’s clever pass to sidefoot into the bottom corner, and Dortmund had a reprieve when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s acrobatic finish was disallowed for offside.
Can smashed home a penalty after Jude Bellingham was felled by Serge Gnabry before Malen slotted in, but those goals were merely minor blips in an emphatic Bayern win.
What does it mean? Tuchel off to a flyer
Tuchel’s first game could not have been much more important, with Bayern’s claim on the title under real threat after Dortmund rattled off nine wins from their first 10 league matches of the year to move top.
But Bayern reminded the league of their credentials in commanding style, registering nine shots on target to Dortmund’s four while accumulating 2.2 expected goals to BVB’s 1.7.
Bayern are now two points clear at the top with eight games remaining. According to Opta, there is an 87.9 per cent chance that an 11th successive league crown will be theirs come the end of the campaign.
Magnificent Muller
This season might not have been one of Muller’s best, but Bayern’s captain showed up in a huge way when it mattered most for his team and his new coach.
Muller’s fifth and sixth Bundesliga goals of the campaign before the break all but killed the game off, while he created a team-high four chances before making way in the 69th minute.
Kobel clanger the start of a bad Dortmund outing
In such a high-pressure game, Kobel’s horrendous error set the tempo for what would be a dismal first-half showing from the visitors.
While the Dortmund goalkeeper made six saves, that mistake for the first goal could end up being the moment the momentum swung Bayern’s way in the title race.
What’s next?
Both teams are in DFB-Pokal quarter-final action on Tuesday, with Bayern hosting Freiburg while Dortmund take on RB Leipzig.
