Bayern Munich return to Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen

The reigning German champions return to the season with a win. Bayern Munich traveled away to Leverkusen, overcoming their opponents 3-1.

The winning streak continues for Bayern Munich. After their winter training camp in Doha, the Bavarian giants looked mostly convincing in their victory. However, it didn’t come without discomfort.

Courtesy of Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern were absolutely made to work for their result. The final scoreline shouldn’t fool anyone. Nevertheless, Jupp Heynckes brought Bayern back their first positive result from Leverkusen in years.

It was a big surprise that Sandro Wagner didn’t feature the starting lineup. Despite Bayern missing Robert Lewandowski, Wagner only featured as a late sub.

Leverkusen make things tense early on

Assuredly, Bayer Leverkusen wouldn’t go without a fight. Early on, Leverkusen played an intense pressing game. But Bayern did well to absorb and redirect the pressure. However, the match remained, for a period, a very end-to-end contest. Surely it was exciting stuff for neutrals.

Finally, the deadlock broke just over 30 minutes in. Arjen Robben whipped in a complicated corner for Leverkusen to deal with. Arturo Vidal then found himself with a free header on goal. After an unfortunate deflection on Bayer’s part, Javi Martinez slammed home the opening goal into the roof of Bernd Leno’s net.

The half closed with a good-looking lead and performance for Bayern Munich. The defense looked solid, and Bayern were gathering steam against a tough opposition. Leverkusen have been no slouches lately. Their recent resurgence of form — and Kevin Volland’s in particular — propelled them into 4th place.

Bayern press their lead forward

The second half opened similarly to the majority of the first-half. Bayern looked strong, but Leverkusen still looked resilient to an extent. Leverkusen created a few very solid looking chances. Leon Bailey rattled a beautiful shot off the crossbar namely.

Bayer kept up their same game plan relatively. Their midfield and attack pressed the Bayern midfield and back line to make them uncomfortable on the ball and try to force errors. The visitors had to make sure that they didn’t linger on the ball and give away counter-attacks. Bayern Munich only held a bit over 50% possession, a relatively average stat for them.

The champions managed to double their lead shortly into the half. James Rodriguez lobbed a wonderful pass over to Franck Ribery. The veteran Frenchman dribbled well through the Leverkusen back line to slot home to make it 2-0.

Unfortunately for Bayern, their slip-ups eventually led to the lead being cut in half. 70 minutes in, Kevin Volland found himself with some space on the left. The German dribbled and danced his way through Vidal, Martinez and Alaba to let fly on goal.

As a result, a couple of unfortunate deflections off Martinez and Niklas Sule sent Sven Ulreich the wrong way. An unlucky way to concede. Credit to Volland, though, for brilliantly creating the chance for himself. Bayern once again will be annoyed they didn’t keep a clean sheet, despite doing generally solid defensive work overall until that point.

Tensions remain, but Bayern close the match strong

As a result, the remaining 20 minutes plus added time were tight. Bayern could not afford to give up anymore crucial mistakes. Volland nearly doubled the home side’s tally, only for Jerome Boateng to heroically block the shot for a corner.

The clock ticked on as tensions continued to rise. The home fans were rallying strong behind the team hoping to inspire a late upset or at least a draw. James was not done yet, however. Half-way through added time, the Colombian earned himself a promising free-kick just outside the box.

What resulted was purely magical. James let fly for the ball to seemingly float into the top left corner of Leno’s goal. The shot was solely about good placement, and not necessarily power. Just like that, Bayern wrapped up the match with a mirrored score of their first run-in this season.

The second-half of the season starts strong

Surely, opening up to Leverkusen would be a tough ask. This is especially so given their recent rise in form towards Champions League contention. In the end, it was a good performance in a 3-1 away victory.

Next: Bayern Munich kick-off 2018 with 3-1 win at Leverkusen — Player grades

Now Bayern can focus on next matchday against Werder Bremen. As the season drags on, the business end of the competitions will thicken. Bayern have two legs against Besiktas and the German Cup coming up later on in addition to the Bundesliga.