Champions League
Bayern Munich shines, Wolfsburg is about to end
Bayern’s Leroy Sané was even able to celebrate two goals of his own against Benfica Lisbon
© Patricia de Melo Moreira / AFP
The German teams performed very differently in the Champions League. While FC Bayern Munich turned up against Benfica Lisbon in the second half, VfL Wolfsburg had a bitter evening in Salzburg.
In the absence of the sick Julian Nagelsmann, FC Bayern strives for double goal scorer Leroy Sané inexorably towards the group victory. When returning to the place of the premier class triumph of 2020, Munich had to wait a long time for redemption on Wednesday. In the 4-0 (0-0), the outstanding double packer Sané (70th / 85th), an own goal by Everton (80th) and Robert Lewandowski (83rd) left the German soccer record champions without the one missing due to a flu Coach cheer.
“The second half was outstanding,” said national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer after his 100th game in the Champions League at DAZN. “That is of course gigantic,” he said of the number of his appearances and summed up: “It was a great evening for us.” After three wins in three games without conceding a goal, Bayern can make the round of 16 perfect in the second leg against the Portuguese in two weeks.
But first of all, the Munich team enjoyed the glamorous evening in the Estádio da Luz, where they won the Champions League 14 months ago. “We played a very, very good game,” said Sané. “I am very happy with the performance today.” Of course he was “a little tense, a little nervous,” admitted assistant coach Dino Toppmöller before kick-off at DAZN, emphasizing that “everything was discussed” and that the team were well prepared. The Bavarians underpinned this with a very brisk initial phase and demonstrated with several great opportunities that they had internalized Nagelsmann’s goal (“The goal is to leave the ground in Lisbon with three points”).
RB Salzburg – VfL Wolfsburg 3-1
The fans of RB Salzburg celebrated their team around the strong German international Karim Adeyemi with loud chants, the players of VfL Wolfsburg took heavy steps disappointed towards the guest curve. With a Champions League evening to forget, the Lower Saxony continued their negative run on Wednesday with the 1: 3 (1: 1) at the young turbo footballers from Salzburg. Led by Adeyemi and double scorer Noah Okafor, the Austrian hosts showed VfL the limits, especially after the break.
“We specifically invited Salzburg in the second half, we didn’t do what we did in the first half. Now we are here with empty hands,” said Wolfsburg midfielder Maximilian Arnold on the DAZN streaming service and complained about “cheap goals” .
The 19-year-old Adeyemi brought the RB team of the 33-year-old trainer Matthias Jaissle already in the 3rd minute in the lead. Lukas Nmecha – together with Adeyemi, U21 European champion in May – equalized with his head for Wolfsburg after a quarter of an hour. But Okafor, who was also only 21, made the decision in front of 29,520 spectators with a double pack (65/77) after corner kicks. “It was amateurish how we defended the corners. We have to turn that off,” said VfL professional Renato Steffen.
While Salzburg consolidated its top position in Group G with seven points, advancement for the again disappointing Wolfsburg with only two points is becoming an increasingly difficult project. On November 2nd, a win against Austria’s series champions is urgently needed in the next game.