Bayern Munich easily put away Paderborn to advance in the DFB Cup
Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich dominate 3. Liga leaders SC Paderborn with a convincing win and advance to the DFB Cup semi-finals.
Heading into this match there only looked like one possible winner. Bayern Munich were expected to simply have too much quality for hosts SC Paderborn.
The home side, however, didn’t just roll-over and accept their defeat. Despite what the eventual score-line may suggest, Paderborn played a good match and can hold their heads high.
A first-half full of attack
Both Bayern Munich and SC Paderborn kicked off the match in energetic fashion. As their line-up suggested, Bayern wasted no time going on the offensive, relentlessly attacking the Paderborn defense.
Kingsley Coman looked particularly threatening on the left-flank. The Frenchman’s hard work was rewarded in the 19th minute, when he opened the match scoring. Robert Lewandowski chipped a ball over the Paderborn backline into Thomas Muller, and the raumdeuter cut the ball back across goal (crashing into Paderborn goalkeeper Michael Ratajczak and picking up a knock in the process). Arjen Robben scuffed a right-footed attempt toward the goal that Coman quickly pounced on and fired home.
Coman once again had a hand in Bayern’s second goal just six minutes later. After being released down the line by Arturo Vidal, Coman made easy work of his defender before cutting inside and finding Robert Lewandowski’s chest with an excellently placed pass. The Pole controlled the ball and fired a pinpoint accurate shot across goal to make it 2-0.
Joshua Kimmich rounded out the first-hal scoring for die Bayern in the 42nd minute. Mats Hummels found his young teammate surging into the Paderborn box. Kimmich controlled the ball, faked a pass across goal and coolly fired his shot into the back of the net.
Despite going into half-time down by three goals, Paderborn’s first-half performance was far from poor. The 3. Liga side hit the Bavarians with several threatening attacks of their own, but simply couldn’t break down Mats Hummels and co.
More of the same in the second
The second-half picked up right where the first left off. The two teams continued to trade blow after blow. It was once again the Bavarians, though, who opened the scoring. James Rodriguez placed a corner-kick right on the head of Corentin Tolisso (who replaced the injured Thomas Muller earlier in the first-half). Coco made no mistake, his bullet of a header giving Bayern their fourth goal of the night.
The goal was a much-needed boost in confidence for Tolisso, who was quite poor in his first-half stint. He’s struggled with consistency this season, and his performance today didn’t inspire confidence that will be ending soon.
Paderborn continued to attack the visitors in admirable fashion even after going down four goals. The hosts just couldn’t find the final ball, despite coming close shortly after Tolisso’s goal, when Ben Zolinski’s long-range effort rebounded off the far post.
They again had a golden chance in the 80th minute, but couldn’t capitalize on Niklas Sule’s poorly taken back-pass to Sven Ulreich. With a wide-open goal in front of him, Philipp Tietz failed to make enough contact to re-direct his shot on goal.
Arjen Robben added to Bayern’s scoring in the 86th minute with a typical curled effort from the right-flank after a layoff from Sebastian Rudy. The Dutchman then doubled his account minutes later, sliding the ball into an open net after Franck Ribery got the better of Paderborn’s back-line.
Next: Bayern Munich scout potential Joshua Kimmich back-up
This match could hardly have gone better for Bayern Munich. Despite a hard-working opponent, the Bavarians’ quality was on full display. Die roten held nothing back and made sure they advanced into the semi-finals of the DFB Cup.