Leroy Sané got ready on the sidelines. He looked at the lawn, now he had to get out into the field. How would the fans receive him this time? The game had long been decided, it was 3-0 against Hertha, 29 minutes to play. Sané stood there now – and waited. The spectators in the arena in the north of Munich, at least 25,000, were making noise again. They rose from their seats and applauded in a way that Sané had never heard before in his 13 months as a Bayern player. Because of the pandemic, the seats were unoccupied for a long time, but now people clapped for Jamal Musiala, the 18-year-old, who had once again achieved an excellent performance and who has now been replaced for Sané. But when the seven-year-old Sané stormed onto the pitch, the people in the arena remained silent. They didn’t whistle him, as they did last in the 3-2 win against 1. FC Köln.
So on Saturday evening the moment had come when they all fell in love again in the big FC Bayern family.
The fans were rewarded with the first befitting 5-0 in the Bundesliga; and Sané was also able to do a little publicity for himself. A few minutes after being substituted on, he first prevailed robustly against two Berliners, then he played a filigree one-two with Thomas Müller, who in turn put Robert Lewandowski 4-0. Now the fans began to sing in the arena. Oh yes, they celebrated Sané. And when he was in Lewandowski’s arms, the stadium announcer didn’t forget to mention his “fantastic preparatory work”. The Pole scored three goals in the end.
“I’m very satisfied today. We played our best game of the season today, and the substitutes also brought in a lot of energy,” said Julian Nagelsmann. The complete contrast was his opposite, Pal Dardai. “I didn’t think we’d come here and play so shocking. We didn’t have a chance today. The body language, the insecurity – that’s not nice,” he said after the game.
This game was accompanied by two themes: Would Sané be spurned acoustically again? And: How obvious would it be that the comparatively thin squad of FC Bayern still needs to be strengthened? Then the question: How crazy does the club want to strike on the transfer market?
“We do our job. And when we’ve done it well, we announce something,” said Nagelsmann when he was asked about possible new players during the week. but in a different way. ” By this other way he might mean that he didn’t fall into the trap of paying way too much money for way too average players again. And when the first gusts of autumn hit the trees in front of the window that week, it seemed for a while as if the people in charge of the association on Säbener Strasse were pulling the covers over their heads in front of the fireplace, hoping that all the terrible reports would come through Changing Messis, Ronaldos and Mbappés no longer run on the Internet and from the fax machine at Tegernsee for too long.
Salihamidzic confirms that they are dealing with Sabitzer
Before it became apparent on Saturday evening that one of the oldest classics of this transfer period could change from rumor to reality. Before the kick-off, Salihamidzic confirmed that they had dealt with Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer. Sabitzer “could be an issue,” said the sports director. According to SZ information, the midfielder, whom Nagelsmann knows very well from his last job, is not part of Leipzig’s squad against Wolfsburg this Sunday. He is absent because of adductor problems. And adductor problems are known to be particularly severe ailments towards the end of the transfer period. We will see.
Against Hertha, Nagelsmann made the correction to the line-up right from the start that he had only decreed against Cologne at half-time: Musiala played on the left wing instead of Sané; Josip Stanisic was used as a right-back. Above all, he trusted a back four right from the start and did not experiment with three central defenders again.
Because there is often a little excitement in some beginnings, Leon Goretzka played a decent pass to Davie Selke from Berlin after two minutes. He was only briefly pleased about the surprising attention and immediately withdrew. Neuer caught the ball casually out of the air. And outside in the Fröttmaninger Heide the arena let out a sigh of the collective.
Nagelsmann gives Sané instructions during the game.
(Photo: kolbert-press / Christian Kolbert via www.imago-images.de/imago images / kolbert-press)
The Munich team continued to play as if nothing had happened (after all, there wasn’t much). And they immediately submitted a goal in which almost half the team was involved. After Serge Gnabry won the ball, the industrious Musiala passed the ball to Alphonso Davies with an extraordinarily long leg. His cross let Robert Lewandowski pass very unpretentiously. Because he correctly suspected that Thomas Müller was even better positioned: the 1-0 (6th). “You don’t get anything for that on paper”, Müller later joked about Lewandowski’s selflessness: “We have agreed that he is on the next level.”
After that, the tension in a game that had started fiery flattened, following the pattern of all those games in which the previous team gave up the belief in a turnaround very early on. On the other hand, the Munich team were increasingly playful. They combined with a love from the midfield, as if it was a matter of bringing in an eleven on the fourth match day to carry the club through a season that, at least in the Champions League, with a trip to Barcelona will not be an easy one. However, the greatest danger arose initially according to a standard: Goretzka headed a corner kick just next to the goal.
Musiala shines again
But Nagelsmann’s Bayern, inspired by their own skills for the first time this Bundesliga season, continued to combine tirelessly. Ten minutes before the break, Lewandowski first pushed a Gnabry cross against the crossbar, then he heaved it into the goal in pursuit. The video referee provided evidence that Goretzka had been sidelined but not intervened. The Bayern fans rose in the arena and accompanied the players into the dressing room with applause.
In view of the safe leadership, Nagelsmann brought Nianzou for Upamecano, obviously he is willing to continue to draw the 19-year-old to the next regular. Why not? With Musiala, who is a year younger, the same tactic is working perfectly. Musiala got into the game against Cologne with verve, contributing three goals to make it 12-0 at Bremer SV in the cup – and now he has also scored in the league. And how. After Müller had cleared him in the penalty area, he put a solid shot into the far corner (49th).
The Berliners were now done for. And even if it was Lewandowski who scored twice, it was the reconciliation between Leroy Sané and the Munich audience that sent the strongest message that evening.